I'll Look After You
by MissSecretlySinful
Summary: When Kelsey, normal 23 year old, is plagued with nightmares starring Dean Winchester, in Hell, she suddenly finds herself stuck in his world. How and why is she there, and will she ever make it home? Dean/OC. Rated T for language and violence. Fangirl, AU. ON HIATUS/ UNDER RECONSTRUCTION
1. Dream A Little Dream Of Me

I'll Look After You

Chapter 1

Dream a Little Dream of Me

"Oomph," Kelsey let out a muffled sound as she plopped onto her big couch positioned in front of the TV in her quiet condo. She bit down as she pulled the red licorice from her mouth, with her eyes glued to the TV screen as the opening credits to _Supernatural_ came on. She never missed an episode and she could hardly believe how much has happened since the first season.

When the season three finale was just coming to a close, her eyes widened as they showed Dean tied up in some sort of dark chains and a large metal hook that gripped the skin above his right collarbone, and his sides as thunder clapped in the strange Hell dimension. A small gasp escaped her mouth and she watched in horror as Dean screamed for his brother.

And then the screen flashed to the credits.

Kelsey's jaw clenched and her brows furled in disbelief. She knew that Dean didn't deserve to be in Hell; he had made that idiotic deal with the Crossroads demon to save his brother, and now he was paying the price. She grimaced as images of Dean still tied up and screaming for his brother rattled through her head. Kelsey tried to shake off the morbid thoughts but they didn't seem to disappear as quickly as she wanted them to. She blinked furiously, but her eyes weren't seeing what was in front of her; they only saw Dean's green eyes and the pain in them as he was slashed at and sliced into. Again and again. She recoiled in horror.

Why was she seeing this? Was it her imagination or had she just fallen asleep in front of the TV again? Yes, she had been so upset about the ending that her mind needed closure and cooked up this dream for her to play out. She breathed deeply, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. Another plead from Dean had her resolve breaking. Even if it was a dream, he was suffering, and she couldn't just sit by and watch.

_You can get through this. You'll survive, because you have to_, she thought to him desperately in a babbling stream of consciousness.

Kelsey squeezed her eyes shut and fought back traitorous tears as she continued to watch him scream and writhe against the hooks that held his captive. A tall figure moved out of the shadows and brandished a curved blade, gleaming with fresh blood. Dean's blood. His green eyes caught hers suddenly as she continued to think—shout—the same thoughts towards him, hoping she could help him in some way.

He let out a yelp as the figure hovering over him dipped the blade deeper into his abdomen and dragged it across his flesh, ripping him open and leaving his insides exposed. Kelsey covered her mouth with her hand before she could cry out as this horrific scene enfolded before her very eyes.

_Dean_, she thought as the fight die in his eyes and his body hung limp against the hooks that clung to his wrists, ankles, and any other skin it gripped. His eyes caught hers once more and held on as a shrill scream ripped its way from her throat. "_Dean_!"

She shot up in her bed; a sheen of sweat layering her skin, and she wiped away the damp hair that stuck to her forehead with a shaky hand. She took an unsteady breath and held her hand to her heart as the memory of her dream came back to her sleep-addled mind. She pushed the sheets away and hung her head in her hands. She didn't even have a recollection of making it to bed the night before.

She sighed in fear and defeat. Was that only a dream? Then, why had it felt so real and horrifying? She was so caught up in her disturbed thoughts as a knock came to her front door that she jumped, startled, her heart palpitating uncontrollably. She sluggishly walked to the door and after peeking through the peephole, she swung the door open.

"Morning!" her sister greeted cheerfully—_too cheerfully_—and stepped through the doorway, already taking off her coat and hanging it up on the coat rack near the door. "Did you catch _Supernatural _last night_?" _Kelsey nodded slowly in response, but her thoughts were still troubled from the dream she'd had. Karlei frowned and pouted a bit, knowing her older sister was in a funky mood. She knew enough, to not to ask what was wrong—unless she wanted her head bit off. Kelsey quietly shut the door as Karlei shrugged off-handedly and walked into the space-y condo and moving into the kitchen to fix herself a cup of coffee.

Kelsey followed her soon after and sat down at one of the seats at the island counter, listening to her sister ramble on for a while, before she excused herself to the bathroom, needing to to retreat for a few minutes. Get her head together.

Her sister hardly noticed her absence.

When Kelsey reached the bathroom, she gripped the sink counter with all her might and, clamped her eyes shut as more dark images filled her mind. Dean's eyes met hers briefly as she bit down her scream; she squeezed her eyes shut again, trying to hold back a wave nausea.

_I'm sorry, Dean, I'm so sorry _. . .

And just like that, she blinked and it was gone. Kelsey slowly released the counter and she recognized the dull ache in her temples, and the stiffness in her hands and arms from her death grip on the tile counter. Leaning her hip against it, she reached up to the mirrored cabinet and opened it. She grabbed a bottle of Ibuprofen and popped the three little white pills in her mouth, rinsing them down with a handful of the water from the tap.

Kelsey looked up at the mirror and studied her reflection as she thought, _What__ is wrong with you? They're just dreams—hallucinations. Get over yourself and get real._

She scrunched her nose up, deforming the light sprinkling of freckles there as she watched her fair skin flush across her cheeks, and up her neck, from her distress. She watched her eyes in the mirror dilate as she calmed down. She wondered if Dean had really seen her in the dream. She shook her head again, but they were only that. _Dreams_. But as Kelsey watched her reflection, there was a small whisper in the back of her mind, saying just how much and how real she believed it was.

"Hey Kels, you okay in there?" Karlei called from the living room as she sat watching the morning showing of Supernatural on TNT. Kelsey sighed, and left the bathroom, moving into the kitchen to pour herself some coffee. She had almost forgotten that her sister had dropped by on her normal Friday morning visit.

Kelsey squared her shoulders and followed the sound of Sam and Dean's voices from the living room. Her eyes found her sister curled up on the couch, eyes glued to the TV with her coffee mug in hand.

She smiled at her sister and sat down next to her to watch "Tall Tales" where the trickster makes its first appearance on the show. When Dean showed up on the screen though, she felt her heart clench and guilt in the pit of her stomach. She grimaced and set down her coffee.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kelsey said, finally answering her sister's question from almost ten minutes before.

"What?" the younger sister asked, her dark brows furling in confusion. Kelsey had always been a little strange at times, and it usually meant she was so caught up in her thoughts that she paid no mind in what she was saying or how distant she was being.

Karlei watched her sister try to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes, "You asked if I was okay, and I said yes." Kelsey explained briefly, her eyes avoiding Karlei's. Karlei watched her sister and waited until she met her eyes.

Kelsey's determination broke and she found herself looking into her younger sibling's green and golden hazel eyes and her long and thick dark lashes. Karlei smirked, her full lips pulling into a half-smug grin showing tiny, child-like white teeth. Kelsey smiled a small smile at her sister as she pushed her chestnut-brown hair back out of her face.

"You know you can tell me anything, right?" Karlei asked, her eyes searching her elder sister's face.

Kelsey sighed and nodded, a slight smile pulling at her lips. She tucked a golden blonde strand behind her ear and looked down as she pulled her right leg up and wrapped an arm around it, becoming lost in her thoughts again.

"So, is there anything you want, or need to tell me?" Karlei encouraged, using impatient hand gestures with a knowing smile.

She wanted to tell her so badly, because she shared almost everything with her; they were like best friends. But, if she told anybody there was a high possibility she'd be locked up in a loony bin.

_No thank you!_

Kelsey shook her head sadly, and Karlei sighed like she'd kind of figured. She looked back to the TV where Dean had on his trademark grin and sighed longingly but stood with her coffee cup. Kelsey half-smiled to herself; they would both always be Dean girls.

"Okay, well I know when I'm not wanted." She joked half-heartedly as she strode into the kitchen and placed the empty cup in the sink.

When she came back out, she had her keys and jacket in her hands. Kelsey stood and walked over to her younger sister.

"I love you, Kels. That'll never change, you know that right? I'll see you tomorrow at Matt and Jane's baby shower?" Karlei asked, watching her sister carefully. Kelsey had promised their older brother that she would be there for him and his very pregnant wife. Kelsey sighed and nodded.

"I said I would, didn't I?"

"Yeah, just checkin'. Alright, I'm off. I'm going to San Francisco with some friends today." She grinned and waved goodbye before her younger sister finally left and Kelsey shut the door with a tired huff.

She ran a hand through her long, stubbornly straight hair in frustration. She slid down the door and hugged her knees to herself.

"What's happening to me?" she whispered to herself. She felt like a scared little girl, and deep within herself, she knew.

It wasn't over yet.


	2. Drag Me Out of Hell

Chapter 2

Drag Me Out of Hell

Kelsey knew the nightmares wouldn't stop. Nearly three months had passed since they'd started and she still had dreams about Dean in Hell. And it was breaking her. Kelsey now sat on her couch in front of the TV with _Supernatural _playing out "Wendigo" but she sat staring at nothing.

Her mind couldn't deal with the horrifying images that stayed with her all day long. Unlike normal dreams, the memories of them didn't fade away with time. She could remember every single moment that Dean screamed for help and for his brother, neither of which she could give, and it tore her up. She knew that it wasn't just a dream anymore; it couldn't be. Either that or she was bat-shit crazy, but she'd rather believe it was real.

She heard her landline phone ringing and she didn't have to check to know it was her sister. She let the machine pick it up; she had stopped talking awhile ago. She'd found that it was easier to withhold all the crazy dreams if she didn't speak at all, and it was also because of fear. Fear of what would happen if she spoke of the dreams aloud. It'd make them too real.

She was like a small, frightened animal, and Karlei knew it, but she didn't know the reason why. So she was persistent in calling every Friday morning to check in, and hope that maybe that time would be when Kelsey finally picked up and opened up to her. She had long given up in visiting because Kelsey would just shut down.

"Kelsey, please pick up, I know you're there." Karlei paused and took a calming breath as her voice echoed through the empty living room, "Kels, I'm worried about you. It's been months since you've spoken a word and you won't let anyone know what's wrong or take you to the hospital . . ." Karlei broke off suddenly, her voice catching when she continued in a broken whisper. "I feel like I'm losing you. Please, just talk to me. _I need you_." Karlei begged her older sister, and hoped to God that she would pick up, but Kelsey sat on her couch frozen in her sitting position. Karlei sniffled, and a muted rustling made it clear that she was crying and wiping at her eyes.

"Okay, I love you. Bye."

A click sounded and filled the silent condo. Kelsey sat brokenly on the couch, wishing that she could reach out and grab the phone to speak with her sister. Hopeful thoughts filled her head, _maybe it wasn't too late, maybe she would still be there if only she would just . . ._ But no, Karlei had hung up the phone and Kelsey knew that the ache in her heart and the cold and empty feeling in her gut were because she had done it to herself. She had pulled away from her family and friends because she was afraid.

She was paranoid and frightened of every little sound. It was worse because she lived alone, and when the fridge would make strange growling sounds, or people would stomp upstairs, she would jump about a foot in the air.

A sudden booming from upstairs, shaking the floor above her, and making some of the popcorn from the ceiling fall, widened her eyes. She shivered as she pulled the blanket over herself, and huddled into the couch, barely realizing what was happening until she dozed off.

It was the same image, like all the rest. Dean in ripped and bloodied clothes, body covered in bloody hooks and chains that bound him to the spot as a tall demon hovered over him, with that same wickedly curved blade. The demon seemed to pause, asking a question.

"All of this pain can end, Dean. All you have to do is take the knife and start cutting."

Kelsey got shivers at the sound of his nasally, lisping voice. She wasn't even sure what kind of voice it was, but it reminded her of Marlon Brando when he was _The Godfather_. She briefly wondered if in his previous life, if he that's who he had been.

Shaking her head, she realized what the demon had asked Dean, and she stared at him hard, thinking, _Dean, don't. It's a trap or something. You're better than that, you're a fighter, survivor, and even a killer by some descriptions—but you're _not _a monster!_

At the sound of her voice, Dean's eyes snapped to hers with fierceness that she recognized as his determination. Without taking his eyes from hers, he answered the demon brusquely.

"No."

Kelsey didn't expect the demon to follow where Dean's eyes were fixed to, but he did and with a terrifying smile at her, he turned back to Dean.

"Is that how you've been dealing, Dean? Watching that girl up there from another world? Oh," he taunted him with a shake of his head, "Poor girl, now she'll be scarred for life." He paused, seeming to think about something as he tapped the knife against his chin.

"I'm feeling rather generous," he made eye contact with her, grinning, "Why don't I just put the girl out of her misery?" He turned and suddenly started taking slow steps towards her, the curved knife he held somehow gleaming in the light less Hell dimension.

"_Leave her alone_." Dean croaked viciously, as he struggled against the metal hooks and chains that gripped his skin in horrifying ways. His breath was coming heavier now, adrenaline rushing as he tried to help her.

"Oh, should I?" The demon turned back to Dean, suddenly, a wide grin on his cruel face. "I don't know . . . what's in it for me?"

Dean paused and he struggled to think clearly as Kelsey started shaking her head vigorously, knowing full well what Dean was about to offer.

_Dean, don't you dare. I'm not worth it. He can't do anything to me, please don't do this, _She thought desperately to him, waiting for his eyes to meet hers in understanding and agreement, but they didn't. He didn't look at her at all now, afraid that if he did, the demon would turn back and slit her throat without another thought.

"I'll do it," was all he said.

_No_, Kelsey thought horrified, echoing loudly in Dean's mind. He winced a bit, but managed to mostly ignore it, still avoiding her eyes.

The demon grinned widely, snapping his fingers, and immediately the hooks and chains disappeared, leaving Dean standing there, his clothes intact and his skin clear of any injury. "So glad you could join us, Dean. Welcome to the family." The demon grinned and held out the knife to Dean.

Kelsey couldn't think anything other than _no_, and she jumped forward instinctively, a bright light flashing as she tackled the demon screeching, when a sharp object hit her hard in her side.

* * *

><p>She rolled onto her side with a pain-filled groan, she couldn't feel the demon underneath her anymore, and that made her worry. She placed a hand over her side, where the pain centered, and whimpered slightly.<p>

Her eyes popped open and when she looked down at her side, her white shirt was soaked in blood and there was a wide, angry wound. She remembered landing on the demon and then, with a disheartening discovery, she realized he'd shoved the knife he'd been holding into her side, just before everything became too bright.

She pulled her jacket over her side, momentarily hiding the wound and moved to sit up. It was hard, considering every movement she made, caused nerves all over to flare and she flinched automatically.

_Okay Kelsey, you can do this. Put on your big girl pants, stop putting off the pain, and get your ass up, before you're found by some hungry insects and eaten to death, or something_.

She slowly sat up, wincing a bit, clutching her side like it was going to fall apart. She knew she needed to patch it up before she bled to death.

Looking around curiously, Kelsey wondered how the hell she got to the middle of a forest. She did a quick double-take—correction, make that a destroyed forest. All the trees surrounding her had fallen over, flattened. Her eyes settled on a patch of dead and dried grass then and at the head of the rectangular patch was a wooden cross serving as a grave marker.

She grimaced, _what the hell is going on?_

Kelsey felt a bit disrespectful just standing atop a person's grave and, guilty they'd been buried alone, as it seemed no one had even visited them. _Who could have if their grave was out in the middle of nowhere?_

She looked around and found a single daisy, somehow growing in the dead grass nearby, so she picked it and laid it gently on the patch in front of her. She bent her head momentarily in respect and began to turn away when something grabbed her ankle.

She screeched and fell backwards on her ass, watching in fear as a hand broke above the patch and slowly pushed its way out of the ground. Kelsey was horrified and yet, somehow fascinated at the same time.

_It's just like a really bad horror movie, only it's real._

The hand had gripped her leg for leverage and soon the hand led to an arm and then a head, and that head came with a body. When he pulled himself all the way out, his body was lying over Kelsey's as he panted struggling for fresh air. Kelsey slowly looked up and met the darkest green eyes she'd ever seen. And yet, she knew those eyes and as recognition filled her mind, her own eyes widened.

Dean looked down at her and stared. Hard.

This was the girl who he'd been seeing for the past . . . however long it's been? The girl who gave him a reason to hold on to himself for longer than he would have by himself. The girl who he'd agreed to torture souls in order to protect her? Dean cleared his throat and licked his lips chastely.

"Who're you?" he asked hoarsely, and cleared his throat again, forcing his lungs to pull in and push out oxygen.

She just stared up at him, speechless. She was so used to not speaking, she couldn't find her voice. He stared at her for a few moments before losing his patience. He grunted, "Hey, I asked you a question. What's your name? How did I get here? What happened?"

She just shook her head, her eyes widening in fear. Would he hurt her? She watched him warily and he seemed to be doing the same thing.

Suddenly, as if on impulse, Dean crushed his mouth to hers. Their lips tangled and worked together as if they'd done it before. Dean ran his tongue along the seam of Kelsey's full lips, causing her to gasp, and her mouth fell open beneath his. When Dean finally pulled away, he was breathing heavily and a small smirk pulled at his lips.

"Name's Dean Winchester, but you already knew that didn't you?"


	3. Can't You Talk

Chapter 3

Can't You Talk?

Kelsey just stared up at him incredulously. So, she wasn't crazy, and all of those nightmares had been real. For the past three months, she had really watched Dean Winchester being tortured, and had watched him screaming for help when she couldn't do anything.

She felt a stabbing pain in her side that made breath catch painfully, so she pushed her hands against Dean's chest as hard as she could. He blinked a few times and looked down to see her trying to push him off, so he rolled over and looked up to the sky, trying to catch his breath.

He shut his eyes for a second, before he stood up slowly, taking in his surroundings. As he looked around he saw that a whole forest's worth of trees had fallen to the ground in a circle surrounding the grave he had just crawled out of.

His eyebrows raised in a 'what the hell' kind of expression, and turned around. Kelsey pushed herself to her feet and held onto her side carefully, not liking that she could feel the blood soaking her fingers under her jacket. She let out a broken sigh, but thankfully Dean hadn't noticed.

"We should start walking, try and find a fill-up station or something."

Kelsey nodded, and figured that was a better idea than just staying around the nuke site, like sitting ducks.

Dean stared at her a little warily when she still hadn't said anything, before they started trekking down the road but his focus was on finding a way off the road. After a while, Kelsey had fallen a bit behind him, his long bow-legged strides carrying him further in a shorter time, while the pain in her side grew worse the longer she walked.

He sighed heavily, it was hot and she knew he must've been thirsty as hell—no pun intended. Kelsey was just glad her hair was up in a ponytail, because there would've been no way for her to have done that now, with her wound hindering her.

She watched as he shrugged off his green over shirt and tied it low on his hips, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. Squinting her eyes, she looked past him and spotted a fill-up station further down the road.

The small building they approached seemed to have been abandoned, but Dean carelessly walked up and knocked on the dirty window on the front door.

"Hello?" he shouted raspily, trying to see through the dirty glass, maybe hoping that someone might be inside, and could help. He looked around, checking for passersby but when he didn't see anything, he untied the shirt from around his hips and wrapped it around his right hand.

He eyed the window for a second before bashing the window open and opening the door. Without uttering a single word, Kelsey watched from a few feet behind as Dean bee-lined for the refrigerator that held the water bottles and downed one quickly.

Once she got inside the store, she stumbled over to the first aid aisle, picking up a roll of bandages and a few other things, with shaky hands. Maneuvering herself so that she sat atop the front counter, she pushed her jacket aside, and peeled her shirt away from the wound, hissing when the dried blood-stained shirt felt like it was ripping her skin off.

She hissed quietly in pain, before snatching a hydrogen peroxide bottle and nearly emptying the whole thing onto her wound, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her teeth.

Feeling the sharp sting of the hydrogen peroxide, she searched the shelves—what she could see of it, from the front counter—for a suture kit, or even some thread and a needle would do. When she felt rough hands on her, she jerked away instinctively, only to look up and see that it was Dean. She released the breath she had been holding, but looked up at him curiously.

He held up his hands, "I'm not gonna hurt you." His eyes fell back down to the nasty stab wound on her lower abdomen and grimaced. "Jeez, when'd that happen?" He glanced up at her, waiting for her to respond, but she only stared at him helplessly, the pain clear in her eyes. He turned around and scanned the shelf for the suture kit, but couldn't find it. Instead, he searched around the store with his eyes, and found the next best thing.

Kelsey silently watched him rush around a corner, nearly sprinting, and she wondered inappropriately if he had to go to the bathroom or something. But a moment later, he returned with a small bottle in his hand. Her brows furled, she stared up at him, her arms, barely holding her up behind her on the counter.

"This will hurt . . . a lot," he warned her, looking her in the eyes, letting her know to prepare herself. She met his stare full on, her jaw set, and nodded once. He bent over her, and pushed the sides of her wound together with one hand, earning a sharp gasp from her as she stared down at him.

He glanced at her ruefully, and tried to make quick work of it as he squeezed out the super glue directly onto her wound. Her teeth locked together, as a muffled sound came from the back of her throat, her eyes watering from the fiery sensation burning its way up her abdomen. Her fists clenched as she leaned on her palms onto the counter, her nails digging into flesh.

"Sorry," he grimaced, and set the bottle of glue aside, lightly holding the two sides of her wound together for a few seconds as they dried.

Kelsey shook her head, with a pained smile, as if to shrug it off. The burning sensation had faded as it dried and she bit her lip, thinking that though it was better than nothing, the glue would get into her bloodstream and she wasn't sure what that might do, if it would deteriorate the skin cells around the wound, or delay the healing. Shaking her head, she decided she wasn't going to worry about it.

She held her hand over her throat, as if willing herself to speak, and lowered her eyebrows as she concentrated, and Dean watched her curiously.

"What are you doing?" he asked, giving her an odd look.

She looked up and met his eyes, trying to clear her throat, and frowning when she was unsuccessful. "Thanking you," she mouthed, but no sound came out.

She watched as he only nodded, his brows puckered curiously, like he didn't know what to think about her yet.

Kelsey shook her head, and reached for the butterfly bandages sitting next to her on the counter, putting a few over the glued shut wound.

She watched, slightly disappointed, as he walked away, and slid off the counter, careful of her side. She knew now she wasn't in danger of her guts spilling all over the place, but she still wanted to be mindful of it as the wound itself healed.

Kelsey thoughtfully picked up a plastic grocery bag and started tossing in various snacks and lots of water bottles. When she came across the little individually wrapped pie things, she grinned and shoved them into the bag by the handfuls.

As much as she knew Dean enjoyed pie, she loved it more, even though her hips didn't share that infatuation. When she felt like she'd packed enough provisions, she went to stand by the magazines, thinking she might be able to grab one and read it.

She tilted her head to the side when one caught her eye, and picked it up, but her cheeks burned when she realized it was a pornographic magazine meant for women. Her eyes shot up to Dean, hoping he hadn't noticed her recent find, only to realize he was grinning and had his eyebrows risen suggestively. She threw the magazine down and stepped away from the rack for good measure.

Dean shook his head in amusement, and was just finishing putting a wad of bills in his back pocket when a TV behind him turned on, but it was nothing but static. He frowned and pushed the button to turn it off. But as soon as he turned it off, the radio played static as well, and when Dean took a step towards it, the TV turned itself back on.

Dean's eyes narrowed, as he wondered what the hell could be going on. He quickly pocketed the money before rushing over to the aisle where the salt was and tossed one to Kelsey. Without him even telling her what to do, she ran to the windows and started to salt them. He didn't have time to question how she knew what to do as suddenly, a sharp ringing reached their ears, its shrill pitch growing more and more painful by the second.

Dean paused in salting a window as he clamped his hands to both ears, trying to diffuse the pain in his head. Kelsey tried ignoring it, wincing and fingers shaking as she salted a window, but blood was dripping down from her ears as she collapsed to her knees.

When Dean started to double over from the agonizing sound, the glass all over the gas station burst, making him fall against the counter as he stumbled over to where Kelsey lay on the ground, holding her head in her hands.

Just as quickly as it had begun, it was over and Dean jumped up quickly, glancing out the window, standing near Kelsey as she started to get up. He pulled her up to her feet, but caught a glimpse of deep red staining her shirt under her jacket. He glanced up at her blue eyes and frowned, a twinge of guilt burning through him.

"You okay?" he asked gruffly. Putting the spur-of-the-moment kiss they shared at his gravesite aside, he didn't know anything about her. She could be a demon for all he knew, and he knew the best option would be to keep a cautious eye on her.

She just nodded her head, and pulled the jacket over her side tentatively. She waved him off, and went to get the bags of provisions that she'd dropped. She looked up, surprised to see him eyeing her with curiosity, and just a smidgen of suspicion.

Dean turned away abruptly, mumbling about needing to make a few calls. Kelsey narrowed her eyes, but shrugged.

She walked outside and found Dean inside of the phone booth have a short conversation on the phone before whoever—she guessed he was trying to call Sam and Bobby—on the other line had hung up on him. She watched him as he put in another quarter and dialed again; she rolled her eyes and walked up to the abandoned car she had seen from the window.

She found that the car wasn't locked, so she hopped in and tossed the groceries into the passenger's seat, leaning down to put her hands underneath the dashboard. She found the wires she needed and with practiced ease, she twisted the right ones together and heard the purr of the ancient engine as it started up. By that time, the person Dean had been trying to call—Bobby—had obviously hung up on him again and he looked back behind him as Kelsey hot-wired the car like a professional car thief.

She grinned as she looked down at the dashboard, hearing the familiar sound of borrowed metal as it started up just for her. Growing up with an older brother who had always made her feel less than human for being female and a father who was a mechanic, she knew cars.

Dean walked over to the driver's side of the car and motioned for her to scoot over. She just looked up at him with a raised brow and shook her head slowly as if to say "What are you gonna do about it?".

He grinned and picked her up with ease and threw her on the seat next to him as he slid into the driver's seat. "Thanks for gettin' this started up for me. Where'd you learn how to hot-wire a car?" He asked casually as he pulled out of the abandoned and now-destroyed fill-up station. Kelsey only shrugged. He sighed, a bit frustrated, and ran a hand over his face. "Can I at least know your name?"

She nodded slowly after a short pause and she sighed. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She frowned and cleared her throat, but again nothing happened. She reached for one of the water bottles that lay in the bag at her feet and took a few healthy sips of the water, before capping it and setting it next to her. Dean arched a brow, but kept quiet, waiting.

"M-my name is Kelsey." Her voice came out raspy and underused, but it was there and audible. She cleared her throat again and swallowed. "God, that's the first time I've spoken in months." She looked at Dean and quickly looked out the window, awkwardly.

Dean nodded, confused and shook his head. "Why haven't you spoken in months?"

She turned back to him and stared. Hard.

"I've been having these horrible nightmares for the past three months about a man who'd been tortured and who screamed for his younger brother while he was up in hooks and chains in Hell. Wouldn't you be just a little freaked out?" Dean just stared at the road unwaveringly; the only sign that he'd heard her was his white knuckles wrapped around the steering wheel, his tense shoulders, and his narrowed eyes.

"You were really there?" he finally asked, a bit quietly.

Kelsey nodded sadly, and cleared her throat again, still finding it almost strange that she was talking again, "You were brave, Dean. I'm just—I'm just sorry I couldn't save you sooner." She wiped away a tear that had fallen and looked out the window, avoiding those soulful jade orbs of his.

"Kelsey . . ." He tried out the name on his tongue, and found that he liked the sound of her name. "You helped me more than you'll ever know." He shifted in his seat uncomfortably and cleared his throat. Kelsey laughed and her mouth tugged up at the corners.

"It's okay, Dean. I don't expect you to give me an emotional moment. That's more where Sam comes in." She laughed again, but Dean's face had turned stony at the mention of his brother's name. He turned to her, his eyes going back and forth from the road to her, and his eyes hardened.

"How do you know about my brother?" his voice no longer held a friendly tone, and Kelsey could sense his 'older-brother-complex' kicking in. She sighed and looked out the window again.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

The car jerked to stop on the shoulder of the road and he turned to her completely, waiting for her to explain. Damn, he htought to himself, wishing he had his gun or knife with him.

Kelsey sighed and turned back to him, shyly. Her cheeks were pink as she looked down.

"Well, I watch this TV show called _Supernatural _and it's about two brothers. They travel the country hunting and killing things that go bump in the night. The first season started out with Sam in college with his girlfriend Jessica—who he was planning on proposing to—and that's when _you_ showed up in the middle of the night, talking about how your dad went missing.

"One thing led to another and the next thing you know, Yellow Eyes killed Jessica the same way your mom had been when you were younger. Then, Sam vowed to kill every monster in sight until he found your dad and killed Azazel once and for all." Kelsey paused to look up at Dean who was just gaping at her, so she looked away again and continued.

"Then right when you find your dad, Meg kidnaps him and you go to save him, waste Azazel's kids and then he possesses your dad and after that fight, you guys get into a bad car crash and you end up in a coma. One serious demon deal later, you wake up and he's gone.

"Then Sam gets taken to an old town or whatever to battle the other 'special children' and you guys end up opening the gates of hell. When that one guy kills Sam, you make a deal to save him and then one year later you died by nasty Hellhounds that bitch Lilith stuck on you after posing as Ruby."

Kelsey paused to take a breath, and shivered, "Seriously though, that Lilith chick is creepy."

When she looked up at Dean and found him still gaping at her, frozen in maybe something like shock or disbelief, she grimaced. "Dean?"

He blinked a few times and then shook his head, looking out the front windshield. He whistled, low in his throat. "So what else have you seen on "our show"," He put air quotes around the words and pulled the car back onto the road.

"Well, since I'm assuming you're asking more about if they showed you having sex, than anything else, I'll tell you yes. But, you should know you're safe from public indecency. They don't show the good stuff on cable anymore." Kelsey smirked, as her mood began to lighten and then she laughed. "Though, I do recall a time in the last year when Sam walked in on you and the Double-Mint twins." She smiled at the embarrassed look on Dean's face. "They didn't show anything except the horrified look on poor Sam."

Dean shook his head and turned up the radio dial. Kelsey snickered when he was so tuned into finding a decent radio station that the car swerved into the other lane. A truck coming up on that side of the road honked twice and gave Dean the finger. Kelsey laughed and smacked his hand away.

"You drive; I'll find a good song on the radio. We don't need to get in a car accident."

"Nuh-uh. Driver picks the—"

"Yeah, yeah. Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts their cakehole. I know the house rules, Dean." She flicked through the tapes he had, and picked one out. "Metallica sound good?"

Dean leaned back in his seat a little with his mouth open and his eyes wide as "Some Kind of Monster" came on through the speakers. Where had this girl been all his life?

She grinned, and turned up the volume, letting its bass fill the car. Dean tapped his hands against the wheel as he let the music's beat soothe him and calm his breathing.

"So do we have any fans?" he tried to sound casual, like he really believed her but, she could tell by the way he asked he was struggling with the idea.

Kelsey snorted, "Of course you do. Are you kidding? Two hot guys travelling the country, in a classic muscle car, hunting things and saving people for a living? There are Dean girls, Sam girls and then there's the Slash fans."

His brow furrowed, "Slash?"

Kelsey slapped her hand to her mouth, covering up her giggle. "As in Sam-slash-Dean?"

Dean ripped his gaze from the road to stare at her. "As in together?"

"Yup."

"They know we're brothers, right?"

Kelsey nodded solemnly, "It doesn't seem to matter, apparently."

Dean gagged exaggeratedly and groaned, "That's disgusting."

Kelsey nodded and shrugged. "Some people have their own opinions."

Dean glanced at her. "What's yours?"

"Hmm?" she asked, pulling her gaze from the window a bit distracted.

"What are you? A Dean, Sam or—" He paused to make a _bleh_ face and Kelsey nodded, smiling and knowing what he meant.

She shrugged, "I've always been a Dean girl."

Dean grinned smugly to himself as he kept his eyes on the road, "Really?"

"Really." she confirmed, amused.

He snorted, a smirk planted firmly on his face and relaxed into his seat as he settled in for a long drive. Kelsey shook her head and looked out her window, thinking about how she ended up in the _Metallicar_ with Dean Winchester himself. She was beside herself, and many fan girls out there would be crying in outrage at the fact that she indeed had no intention to sleep with him. Sneaking a peek at Dean as he drove, his eyes on the road, Kelsey promised herself she wouldn't go there, and she wouldn't get hurt. She'd just have to work on keeping her fan girlish thoughts—hands—to herself.

Or that was the plan, anyway.


	4. It's Me, Dean Winchester

Chapter 4

It's Me, Dean Winchester

Dean ushered Kelsey up to the porch of the run-down house that stood smack-dab in the middle of a junkyard. Kelsey looked around at the familiar place that she'd seen in numerous episodes on TV, and at the things they didn't show on TV. Dean watched her eyeing the place with appreciative awe and snapped his fingers in front of her face, abruptly.

"Hey, I guess you know this is Bobby's place, but I need you to let me do the talking."

Kelsey frowned at him and opened her mouth to argue but he held his hand up, a frown of his own on his face.

"You'll get your chance to talk to him about how the hell you got here, but I have some things to talk to him about. So shut up and for the love of God, don't tell him that you're from another _universe_ or whatever until he's established we're not demons."

He stared at her, his eyes burning a hole into her own, waiting for her to nod in understanding. Kelsey sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, sir."

He just quirked a brow and huffed as he turned from her to knock on the door loud enough for Bobby to hear. Almost immediately, the door was opened and there stood a shell-shocked Bobby, in his trademark trucker-hat-and-plaid-shirt combo.

He just stared as Dean sighed, "Surprise," with a half-smile on his face.

Bobby took a step back, his face blank, "I don't . . ." he muttered.

Dean stepped inside the door jamb, Kelsey on his heels, and glanced to his right. "Yeah, me neither. But here I am."

Dean waited for Bobby to say something, but had to lean back and hold Bobby's arm from moving again as he tried to slash a long knife at the air in front of Dean's face.

"Bobby!"

Dean twisted his arm around his back, trying to restrain him as Bobby fought to get free. He snapped his fist back and hit Dean square in the face, forcing him to slacken his grip and stumble backwards into the kitchen. He held his nose as Bobby turned towards him, holding up the knife.

"Bobby, it's me!"

Bobby started towards him, knife in hand, retorting, "My ass!"

"Whoa, whoa, wait!" Dean started, pulling a chair in front of him, and hunching over it, desperation in his eyes. "Your name is Robert Steven Singer; you became a hunter after your wife became possessed. You're about the closest thing I have to a father! It's me!"

Bobby stared at him, dumbfounded and took a step towards him, rolling the chair away. Dean gave him a worried glance, keeping his hands up defensively. He reached out a hand to touch Dean's shoulder, as if testing if he was real, making Dean smirk but, then he tried to swiped the knife at him and Dean leaned back just barely avoiding it.

He grabbed Bobby's arm and twisted around his back again. "Whoa, I'm not a shapeshifter!" he shouted at him.

"Then you're a revenant!" He said as Dean pushed him away, taking the knife from him, Bobby turned to face him again and watched him warily.

Kelsey just watched from the doorway, her eyes wide. Her feet were rooted to the spot, and maybe because she'd spent years only watching their lives play out, and not being able to do anything about what happened to them, she didn't move.

And neither Dean nor Bobby realized she was still standing there.

"Alright," Dean announced, holding the knife up in his right hand, "If I was either, could I do this," Dean rolled his shirt sleeve up, "with a silver knife?"

Tensing his shoulders slightly to prepare for the oncoming pressure from the knife, he pressed the silver blade to the inside of his bicep.

Bobby watched, his expression turning to shock, as Dean sliced the blade cleanly across his skin and nothing happened. Dean grunted slightly from the pain and looked up to Bobby expectantly.

"Dean?" Bobby asked quietly, working his jaw as he looked at his honorary son.

"It's what I've been trying to tell ya," Dean said quietly, his voice hoarse as he took two steps toward him.

They embraced in brief hug, and Bobby was wheezing. When they pulled away after a slightly emotional moment, Bobby smiled slightly, "It's—s'good to see ya boy."

Dean nodded and fisted the material of Bobby's shirt at his shoulder with his hand, "Yeah, you too."

When Dean pulled his hand away, Bobby shook his head, "But . . . How'd ya bust out?" Dean blinked, and when he turned back to Kelsey, Bobby thrust a vial of Holy Water in his face.

Dean turned back to Bobby, wiping his face and spitting out the small amount that'd made it into his mouth, "I'm not a demon either, ya know."

Bobby grimaced and held up the holy water flask, "Sorry."

Dean glanced at Kelsey again and this time Bobby followed his line of vision and found a small, curvy blonde standing in the open doorway to his house. She grimaced when she noticed them suddenly staring at her, but decided to do the polite thing.

She stepped forward, her hand extended in a friendly gesture. Her cheeks were pink as she said, "Hi, I'm Kelsey. I've heard a lot about you." She smiled shyly.

Bobby narrowed his eyes and slowly looked back at Dean, who was staring intently at Kelsey. He frowned and did the only thing he knew. He picked up the silver knife again and advanced towards her.

She squeaked and took a few steps back as he swung the knife at her head. She side-stepped his movements and jumped behind him swiftly and reached around, before he could see where she went, and stole the knife from his hand. Dean and Bobby weren't the only ones surprised she could do that.

Kelsey stepped back away from them and held the knife gingerly in her hand, peeking up at the men in front of her from under her thick lashes. She sighed, "I'm gonna have to cut myself with this, huh?"

Dean and Bobby just watched her warily, Bobby's eyes darting around for a spare weapon, while still focusing on her movements.

She sighed again, defeated, and shut her eyes as she placed the knife on the inside of her forearm. Wincing and grinding her teeth together to hold in a squeal, she slid the blade across her pale skin. Dean and Bobby watched as the dark pigment of her blood contrasted with the pale hue of her milky skin.

Bobby narrowed his eyes, "Holy water." He ground out, almost sure that her pale skin would burn if touched by it.

Kelsey rolled her eyes and held a hand to her bleeding cut. "Hand it over, please."

Bobby tossed it to her and she caught it with ease. From habit, she twisted the cap off with her teeth and splashed the blessed water over the cut. They watched for her skin to start smoking, or sizzling but when it didn't, Bobby brightened. She recapped the bottle and tossed it to a surprised Dean.

Bobby smiled apologetically, "Sorry about that, darlin', can't be too careful."

Kelsey just nodded, her stomach lurching a bit, when she just realized that she'd used the same knife Dean used to cut his arm. She turned to him, her face darkening.

"Do you have any STD's?"

Dean's face turned horrified as he looked down at her, shouting quickly, "What? No!"

She narrowed her eyes at him, her irises dilating and making her appear like an angry kitten. Dean closed his lips, his smirk quivering a bit from withheld laughter.

Bobby turned her attention to him, "Ignore him, the idjit. Pretty sure you're safe from STD's. I'll help ya get cleaned up if ya want. I'm Bobby, by the way." He smiled at her slightly.

She looked up at him, her eyes softening. "Thank you, Bobby. Uh, if it's alright, I can do it myself. I'm used to dressing up wounds, you could say." She gave a little nervous laugh and shook her head, looking away from the confused men standing in the kitchen with her.

Bobby tilted his head questioningly and she sighed, her shoulders sagging. "I'manERnurseokay?" She mumbled incoherently.

Bobby frowned and Dean raised his brows. "Sorry, I'm not exactly fluent in mumbo jumbo. What was that again?"

She curved her lips down into an exaggerated frown at Bobby. "I'm an ER nurse. I have to patch and sew people up all the time." Her blue eyes fell to the ground, afraid to see Dean's face. She was hoping to avoid this situation, because of his infatuation with nurses.

Before her revelation about switching career choices, she'd thought she'd wanted to be a hairdresser and before that, a veterinarian. So, she was a bit . . . versatile.

Her lips curved up in a secret smile as she thought about how when she got her first boyfriend, it had been right after she'd dyed her hair dark auburn. And after that, she'd been a brunette, and had blue-streaked, red, and then black hair. You could say she went through several stages in her life. Now, she was back to her natural strawberry blonde hair color. Her hair hung low down her back, as she'd been keeping it long since she was in high school, and now she pushed her long bangs out of her face.

Dean looked at her curiously as she smiled what he thought to be a very naughty smile and licked his lips unconsciously. Bobby seemed to catch this and smacked him upside the head, giving him a good glare.

Kelsey peeked up at the two who were still having a silent conversation and she giggled. "Bobby, could you show me the first aid kit, please?"

He looked back at her and nodded, smiling. They both ignored the leer that Dean gave her. Bobby reached under the sink and pulled out a metal box with "_First Aid Kit_" written on the front and she smiled at the vintage-type box. "Thank you."

Bobby turned and called over his shoulder, "I'll be in the study, if ya need me."

She sat down at the table and pulled her blood-soaked fingers away from her wound. "Damn, probably shouldn't have shut my eyes." She muttered at herself, smacking herself upside the head internally. She pulled out a package of anti-bacterial wipes and ripped it open with her teeth. She smiled, at her odd habit and carefully cleaned the cut, holding back a hiss from the stinging disinfectant.

She set it down on the package she'd placed on the table and began prodding the wound with her practiced fingers. "Crap," she muttered. "I never learn, do I?"

"You talk to yourself a lot?" Dean inquired, his voice sounding amused. When she turned to look at him, her suspicions were confirmed with his smug little smirk. She rolled her eyes and cursed under her breath as she searched for a pack of butterfly bandages and nodded when she found it. Again, she ripped it open with her teeth and applied a few over the cut. She glanced at Dean before turning back to her work.

"Yeah, sometimes I do. It just means I have a lot on my mind."

Dean snorted, "Is that something new for you, then?"

Kelsey slowly looked up at Dean, "Not really." She replied briefly, pretending to take his question seriously. She picked up the trash from the bandages and turned to throw them away, but Dean stepped into her personal space, his body sliding against hers as she stood back up straight.

"Excuse me?" Kelsey looked up at him blankly, her face expressionless, though she was insulted at what he was doing, and implying with his body language.

He didn't say anything but looked at her. Kelsey sucked in a big breath, and shoved him out of the way, with a strength he hadn't expected from someone as slight as her. He was still watching her with a bewildered expression as she threw the trash away.

She frowned up at him, noticing his stare as she turned to face him, "What?"

Dean shook his head, "Doesn't it bother you at all?" he pointed to her belly wound, and she knew he was referring to the fact that she had seemed to have forgotten about it, moving around almost normally. Her hand moved to cover the spot almost instinctively, and frowned. Catching herself, she shrugged, and avoided his eyes, "Pain's not really a new thing to me."

He watched her silently. Years of hunting and looking out for not only himself—Sammy too—he'd had to be observant of his surroundings and the people around him. The way she didn't look directly at him, and her lip twitching nervously, had him alert.

The tell-tale sign that someone was being less than honest.

He reminded himself that even though she'd "been there" during his stay in Hell, helping him hold onto himself, he knew almost nothing about her. Dean's eyes narrowed on hers, and he opened his mouth to ask her what she was hiding, but Bobby called from the other room.

"If you idjits are done chattin'—get in here!"

Kelsey gave a small, uncomfortable smile and turned from Dean to head into the study. He watched her walk away from him and for some reason, he felt a clenching in his gut, a twisting in his heart as she walked away without turning back.


	5. The Impala Confessions

Chapter 5

The Impala Confessions

Kelsey walked into the Bobby's study, Dean following shortly after and found him sitting behind his desk. He was overlooking a few thick and dusty books, opened and scattered around him. Kelsey moved to sit on the couch but Dean stood in front of Bobby's desk, his arms crossed, and his he-means-business serious face firmly in place.

Bobby looked up and frowned.

Kelsey spoke up first, her brow furrowed and her lips pouting slightly, like she had just found out her puppy had died.

"You called me an idjit."

Bobby just raised his eyebrows. "Uh, yeah I did."

She frowned at him and crossed her arms, "Have I done something to make you think I'm an idjit?"

He shook his head slowly, his hands pausing over the books on his desk. "No . . ."

"Then please, until I do something idiotic, don't group me up with him." She pointed a finger at Dean, and Bobby chuckled to himself.

"Where'd you find this gal, boy?" he turned to Dean, a wry grin on his scruffy beard-ridden face.

Dean frowned and scratched his chin absently, "Well Bobby, funny you say that . . ." He glanced at Kelsey and if possible, his frown deepened.

Kelsey cut in with a sigh, "Uh, yeah, I stumbled upon his grave site when my car broke down a little ways down the road. I was looking for a gas station or anything really, and I felt bad that no one had seemed to even have visited the unmarked person in the grave. I wanted to pay them my respects."  
>Dean just gaped at her, his eyes narrowing, but he didn't object to her story. He knew she was hiding the other half of the truth from Bobby and he didn't know why, but he would find out later.<p>

She cleared her throat and continued, "I guess you could say I screamed when a hand shot up out of the grave, like a freakin' zombie movie or something. Anyway, turns out it was Dean and he climbed out and we walked to the nearest gas station." She shrugged and breathed a small sigh of relief when Dean took over, letting the spotlight fall away from her.

She felt her cheeks burning and she cursed her mother internally for her pale skin and her tendency to blush every few seconds.

"The place was abandoned. So, we stocked up on supplies and when I emptied the cash register, the TV turned on and then the radio, but it was just static. Something freaky went on there, Bobby."

"Wait, back up. That just doesn't make a lick o'sense."

Dean snorted, nodding in agreement, "You're preachin' to the choir."

"Dean your chest was ribbons, your insides were slop and you've been buried three months. Even if you could slip outta Hell and back into your meat suit—"

"I know. I should look like a thriller video reject," he glanced at Kelsey with a mocking smirk.

"What do you remember?"

Dean looked away casually, "Not much. I remember I was a Hell hound's chew toy," Dean raised his brows, "and then lights out. Then I come to six feet under, that was it."

Bobby leaned back in his chair, his face showing his wonderment. Dean chewed on his lip, his thoughts taking a dark turn, "Sam's number isn't working. He's not, uh . . ."

Bobby looked up quickly shaking his head negatively, "He's alive, far as I know."

Dean nodded and looked out the window for a second, as he came around the side of his desk. "Good." He seemed to release the breath he'd been holding. "Wait, what do you mean as far as you know?"

Bobby looked away and then back to Dean, his face upset, "I haven't talked to him for months."

"You're kidding; you just let him go off by himself?" Dean asked incredulously.

Kelsey wanted to say something, but felt like it wasn't her place so she stayed quiet, her hands fiddling nervously in her lap as she watched Dean's shoulders tense up. She made a face, knowing he was getting upset and things weren't goin' great if _Dean Winchester_ was upset.

"He was dead-set on it." Bobby said, standing from his chair and moving over the other side of the room. Kelsey watched him with intelligent eyes. She wondered if he knew he was subconsciously putting space between him and the volatile younger hunter.

Dean looked at Bobby with incredulity and disappointment written on his face, "Bobby, you shoulda been lookin' after him."

He looked up at Dean, his face unreadable, "I tried," his eyes narrowed, and Kelsey could almost feel his patience slipping.

"These last months haven't been exactly easy y'know, for him or me."

Dean closed his eyes with a sigh, and nodded his understanding. "We had to bury you."

"Why did you bury me anyway?" A faint pebble of knowledge kicked around in Kelsey's brain, and she remembered that the norm for hunters that passed was not a proper burial but salting and burning the bodies on a pyre, like Grecian warriors and loyalty in medieval times.

Bobby shrugged, "I wanted ya salted and burned—usual drill—but Sam wouldn't have it."

"Well, I'm glad he won that one." Dean looked down at Bobby's desk, and noticed that something there was unlike the others, his expression twisting curiously.

"He said you'd need a body when he got you back home somehow."

Dean opened his mouth and stared at Bobby, unsure of what to say.

"That's about all he said." Bobby shrugged.

"What do you mean?"

He looked away, a deep, unsettling frown on his face. "He was quiet. Real quiet." He sat on the edge of his desk, and shook his head, his eyebrows raised. "Then, he just took off. Wouldn't return my calls; I tried to find him, but he don't wanna be found."

Dean turned away, his mouth twisting, and his head turning in disbelief. "Ah, Damn it Sammy." He ran his hand over his face and he paced once and then turned back to Bobby's desk.

"What?" Bobby asked, leaning back a little, and watching Dean's dumbstruck expression.

"Oh, he got me home okay, but whatever he did, it is bad mojo." His eyes darted to Kelsey again and she shifted under his gaze before he turned back to Bobby.

"What makes you so sure?"

"You should've seen the grave site, Bobby. It was like a nuke went off. Then there was this force, this presence—I don't know but it blew past me at a fill-up joint." He looked at Bobby.

"And then this," he said, taking off his over-shirt and pulling up his left shirt-sleeve to show Bobby the weird hand print burned into his skin.

Kelsey pulled her eyes away carefully, not interested in seeing the new scarring on his arm, and they were talking, but she tuned them out. It made her shiver at the thought of something burning that handprint into his flesh. They still had no idea what it was that pulled him out, or put her here, but she wasn't so sure it was a good thing.

Kelsey stood suddenly, and stretched, causing both men to turn and look at her. She blushed when she saw Dean's leer and pulled her shirt down quickly.

"May I make a suggestion?"

Bobby lifted a brow, "By all means."

She grinned at him and walked closer to them, into the small circle they'd made. "Well, maybe we should call the phone company. They have GPS's in phones now don't they? Call 'em up and say that you lost your phone and need to track it down."

Dean smirked, "You took the words right outta my mouth."

_Damn,_ _does everything he says have to sound so dirty? _She thought, holding back a hysterical giggle. She'd have to keep her inner fan girl in check around him if she was going to retain her dignity.

Dean got a hold of the phone company and talked to them briefly about his "lost phone" before hanging up.

"How'd you know he used that name on his account?" Bobby asked Dean, following him as he stalked back into the study.

Dean didn't look back, just went straight to Bobby's computer and started pulling up the website for the phone company. "Are you kidding? What don't I know about that kid?"

"Hey Bobby?" Dean kept his gaze on the computer, "What's the deal with the liquor store?" He said picking up an empty liquor bottle and eyeing it before holding it up and setting it down. "Hmm, your parents outta town or somethin'?"

"Like I said, last few months ain't been all that easy." He said, slowly, his voice gravelly with held-back emotion. Kelsey was smiling tightly, internally going, _Aww!_

Dean just looked up at Bobby, their eyes holding and said, "Right."

A small beeping went off and Dean looked back to the computer, breaking the small emotional moment between him and Bobby.

"Sam's in Pontiac, Illinois." Dean leaned back in the chair.

Bobby frowned, "Right near where you were planted."

"Right near where I popped up," his eyes glanced up at Bobby's. "Helluva coincidence, don't ya think?"

* * *

><p>The drive to Illinois was long but quiet, except for the beats of ACDC streaming through the speakers. She glanced in the side-view mirrors and she sighed, seeing Bobby's car right behind them. Kelsey smiled and nodded along to a song she recognized as "You Shook Me All Night Long."

She didn't know _all_ the words, but growing up with parents who listened mostly to Classic Rock, she knew most of them.

Dean glanced at her as she looked out the window, nodding along to the song with a smile on her face, humming quietly and tapping her fingers to the beat on her thighs.

"You like AC/DC?"

Kelsey turned to him slowly, as she blinked and her mind returned from her reverie. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I grew up listening to them and everything that could be filed under _Classic Rock_."

She used her fingers to put quotes around the words and smiled to herself as she remembered the annual family vacation up to the lake. The trip took at least six hours to drive there, and the radio was always set to 107.7 _The Bone_.

She smiled at the memory of her parents arguing about how to read a map in the front of the car, while Kelsey and her sister tried to annoy their brother while he dozed off with death metal screaming from his ear buds. Their family was different, that's for sure.

Dean chuckled and whistled low in his throat, "Well, another rock fan. How bout it?"

She chuckled and shook her head. "There are a lot of people who like that kind of music, maybe you just haven't met them yet?"

"I meet a lot of people." He shrugged, not knowing where she was going with the line of conversation.

"Maybe you just haven't met the right person yet, who knows maybe your time will come, Dean." She patted his arm comfortingly and looked out the window.

She knew that he wished one day he could settle down with someone he loved with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. It was obvious, and she felt her heart break for him, because he had sentenced himself to this life so he could get his father's approval. She honestly wished the best for Dean, because she would never wish the worst on anyone. That's just not how she thought, it wasn't in her nature.

"What do you mean "my time"?" Dean asked, his face in twisted mask of confusion. Pretending to not know what she was talking about.

"I know you know Dean, so stop asking for mushy emotional talk."

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and pouted. His brain suddenly registered the questions he'd been saving until later when they were alone. His eyes found the headlights of Bobby's car in his rear-view mirror and decided this was a good time as any. "Why didn't you tell Bobby what really happened?"

Kelsey hadn't expected that and her head whipped towards him, her eyes wide. "What?"

"Why did you lie to Bobby?" he clarified, snappily.

Kelsey grimaced and twisted her hands in her lap. "Well, honestly?" Dean nodded, "I figured you didn't want anyone to know you remembered what went down, _down there_, and though I think they should know, it's not my place to tell them."

"How'd—" he cleared his throat, "How'd you know that's what I was going to do?"

She sighed and looked at him, "Well, I may not have had the chance to get to know you yet in person, but I've witnessed a lot of terrible things that've happened in the past three years of your life. I ought to know you a little bit, don't you think?"

"I'll try to not think that as creepy."

Kelsey leaned over and smacked his arm lightly, "Hey, is it so wrong to feel involved with a show about two brothers who_ save_ people? I'm sorry if you feel like some perv's been creeping on you with a camera your whole life but, hey at least your show's on regular cable. Think about what it would've been like if it was on HBO or somethin'?" Her brows lifted suggestively and he cringed.

"So, there's no . . . they don't show . . ."

Kelsey smiled knowingly and nodded. "I told you Dean, there's no nudity in the show." She thought for a minute, and then words were flying out of her mouth before she could think better of it, "Oh, I almost forgot about the time you and Sam were hunting a shapeshifter? It showed the shapeshifter peeling off its old skin and pretty much becoming you. If it hadn't been so gross with the skin and molting, it'd have been a very hot shirtless scene." Kelsey's eyes widened as she realized she'd just said that out loud and quickly turned to face the window. Damn her inability to think before she spoke—aka word vomit.

Dean cleared his throat and nodded, keeping his eyes on the road after glancing at her and seeing her pink cheeks. He hid his smile and shifted his grip on the steering wheel.

"Okay, so, about the whole pain thing? Wanna explain that to me?"

She glanced at him, her brows lifting as her irritation grew, "We playing twenty questions or something?"

"Look, I just wanna know what's goin' on, okay? I have enough mystery in my life to fill up a cement truck." He grumbled, almost regretting asking her. He should have known that trying to ask a chick about her feelings was way out of his league. Hell, more like out of the ball park and three states over. He scrunched up his nose and waited for her to finally burst and start screaming at him. Shoulders tensed and fists gripping the steering wheel tightly, he also prepared himself for an attack.

Kelsey crossed her arms in ill-comfort and stared out her window for a few moments, debating on whether or not to share with him. She took a shaky breath and when she did finally answer, it wasn't what Dean had expected at all.

"My mom was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder when I was real young." She fell into a depression shortly after that, attempting suicide. Kelsey's dad saved her but she was angry at him for a long time, because she didn't want to be crazy. Kelsey's brother resented their for being sick, and letting it consume her—he still does. He blamed her for everything that went wrong in their family. "Doctors put her on so many medications but they only made it worse."

For awhile, one type of medication had made her so calm, she became catatonic. Kelsey had always known something was wrong with her mom; she was always in the hospital—in the psych ward—and almost never home. When she _was_ home, her mother stared off into space, unresponsive.

She glanced over at Dean to see him watching the road, his face wistful, but he listened without judging her; without pitying her. She was glad for it.

The next medication the doctors put her on was different, but it didn't do anything but make her worse. It seemed to intensify her emotions. She was always angry with Kelsey for something, using aggression to make a point. _Kelsey_, _don't talk to strangers_. _Kelsey_, _stop running into the street_. _Kelsey_, _don't climb on those cabinets_. _Kelsey_, _use your inside voice_.

But, the worst time was when her mom got so angry with her because she back-talked to her, giving her sass for something she couldn't even remember now. She got so angry and grabbed Kelsey by her hair and started dragging her down the hallway. She tossed Kelsey up onto a couch once they reached the end of the hallway that led into the family room, and her head landed on the metal framing of the armrest, cracking her head open, but leaving her conscious.

Her mother started screaming at Kelsey, slapping her face around before she suddenly stopped and broke down sobbing. She blubbered apologies over and over again and all Kelsey could do was hug her and tell her that it was okay.

She still had the scar from where the couch arm hit her head. She self-consciously traced the small, angular scar on her forehead with her fingers, her eyes far away. She forgave her, of course she did. Why should Kelsey hold that over her? It was a long time ago and she hadn't been in her right mind; she'd gone through a lot and Kelsey knew she still felt guilty.

"So, what happened?"

"Her doctors finally found a medication that worked, and that meant no more nasty side effects."

"Like bleeding kidneys?"

Kelsey, in turn, snorted at him, "No, more like hair loss, slow brain activity, muscle deformation, heart failure, kidney stones, etcetera. There've been a few heart failure scares throughout my childhood just because of the medicine she took. I'm lucky I haven't lost my parents, because knowing how hard I took my dog dying, I don't think I could survive it."

She looked at Dean, a painful innocence in her eyes and his brows sagged, making his eyes sad and full of hidden pain of his own.

He knew the loss of both his parents and for a short time he knew what it felt like to have failed his brother in the same way.


	6. Winchester Family Reunion

Chapter 6

Winchester Family Reunion

Dean didn't know how he felt about storming in on his baby brother—especially with Bobby and Kelsey in tow. Sam would have a hard enough time dealing with the fact that his brother was topside once again, but adding a stranger to the mix?

Dean took a really deep breath and wiped his hand over his face as he walked down the hall that the hotel manager said would lead to Sam's room. Bobby flanked his left and Kelsey followed at his heels.

Kelsey glanced at the 207 on the door and she quietly sighed, wondering how this reunion would go. She watched Dean and as much as she wanted to reach out and squeeze his shoulder for encouragement, she knew it wouldn't be appreciated. So, she settled with staying silent and the knowledge that she was there if anyone needed her for moral support.

Dean glanced at Bobby briefly and rapped on the door. Almost immediately, the door swung open to a petite brunette in a tank top and boy-cut panties. Dean's eyebrows rose, and he gave her a strange look. Bobby just seemed to have a shell-shocked look on his face. Kelsey stood there smiling, holding back her laughter.

_Sammy finally got some!_

"So where is it?" the girl demanded, almost snottily. Bobby and Dean traded confused looks and then turned back to her.

"Where's what?" Dean asked, his head tilted to the side, like a little lost puppy.

The girl seemed impatient and annoyed, "The pizza . . . that takes two guys to deliver, apparently."

Dean finally caught on, and he glanced past her into the room, "Ah, I think we got the wrong room." he finally explained.

Everyone looked up when Sam came into view, "Hey is . . ." he stopped at looked wide-eyed at Dean, his thoughts running wildly. Kelsey vaguely thought he looked like a poor deer caught in headlights, or like someone had just killed his puppy.

Dean's eyes locked on his brother, but Sam turned to Bobby, his brows coming down.

Bobby just frowned at him.

Sam turned back to Dean, looking like he was having trouble breathing. Dean watched his little brother and his mouth curved up in a smile. With everyone turning to different people, Kelsey turned to the brunette and waved awkwardly.

"Come here, often?"

Her comedic relief was ignored as the Winchester brothers reunited.

"Heya Sammy." Dean grinned.

Sam just breathed heavily, watching silently as Dean stepped inside the room towards his younger brother. The brunette pressed her back up to the open door trying to get out of Dean's way as he made it into the room.

Kelsey felt the tension in the air, but she just couldn't tear her eyes from the two brothers. Then suddenly as Sam whipped out a knife and started lunging for Dean, the brunette broke out into a scream, forcing Kelsey to reach over and slap her hand over her mouth. Dean held up his arm and blocked the advance.

Bobby stepped forward, moving to restrain Sam. He pulled him away as Sam shouted at Dean, "Who are you?"

Dean frowned, "What like you didn't do this?"

Sam fought against Bobby's hold around his neck, "Do what?" he demanded.

Bobby tried to intervene, "It's him! It's him, Sam I've been through this already. It's _really _him."

Sam seemed to have stopped struggling and Bobby released his hold on him. "Wait," Sam started, looking at Dean.

Dean stepped forward, nodding, "I know, I look fantastic, huh?" Dean smiled a bit.

Sam didn't say anything; he watched his brother for a second and then pulled him into a huge bear hug.

When Sam pulled away, Kelsey thought she saw a sheen of unshed tears in Dean's eyes. She again wished she could do something, but she stayed back, knowing that Sam had just gotten his brother back and didn't need to meet her at that exact moment. She could wait.

The brunette still stood at the door and looked back and forth between the two men, a blank look on her face. "So you two . . . are like, together?"

Sam glanced at her, "What? No."

Dean jerked his neck back as he looked at her in disbelief. Kelsey couldn't help it; she burst into light-hearted laughter and held her wounded side as it shot pain down it when she laughed extensively.

Dean glared at her, but she just shrugged with a slightly forced smile on her face.

"No, no," Sam glanced at Kelsey with a brief frown, before turning back to Dean, "He's my brother."

Dean nodded and gave the brunette a strange stare.

"O-oh, got it. I guess, I should probably go," she pointed outside and Sam looked up at her, his brows raised.

"Yeah, yeah, that's probably a good idea. Sorry."

She smiled awkwardly and Kelsey helped her pick her stuff up and shared awkward smiles.

Soon, the girl was dressed and making her way out of the room. "So call me?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure thing Kathy." Sam said his hand on the door.  
>"Kristy," she corrected him, her face falling.<p>

"Right," he smiled tightly, and when she turned and left, he shut the door quickly.

He turned back into the room and saw Dean leaning up against the wall. He sat down on the bed and started putting his shoes on, his face drawn, as if he knew the interrogation coming on.

Kelsey was leaning up against the far wall, watching the three of them as they argued. She sighed and when Bobby's eyes caught hers she smiled at him. He returned her smile and added a wink from his seat on the couch before jumping into their argument.

"So tell me what'd it cost?" Dean started, as Sam shoved his foot into his boot and started lacing them up.

"The girl? I don't pay, Dean." He smirked and laughed a little, going back to putting on his other shoe.

It's not funny, Sam." He watched his younger brother, "To bring me back; what'd it cost? Was it just your soul or something worse?" Dean couldn't stand to think about his little brother going to Hell for him. He'd be damned if Sam thought he would let him get away with it.

"You think I made a deal?" Sam asked incredulously.

"That's exactly what we think," Bobby informed him.

"Well, I didn't," He said, his voice calm.

"Don't lie to me, Sam." Dean said quietly.

Sam turned back to Dean, "I'm not lying."

Dean stood up straight, his eyes never leaving his brother, "So what now I'm off the hook and you're on? Is that it? Some demon's bitch boy? You know, I didn't wanna be saved like this."

Sam jumped up and got into Dean's face, his anger finally catching up with him. "I wish I had done it alright?"

Dean had had enough; he reached forward and grabbed Sam by the shirt with both fists. "There's no other way this could've gone down. Now tell the truth!"

Sam flung Dean off him, "I tried everything, that's the truth. I tried opening the Devil's gate, Hell I tried to bargain Dean, but no demon would deal alright?" Sam stared at Dean, begging him to understand, "You were rotting in Hell for months, for months and I couldn't stop it!" Sam was panting, guilt weighing heavily on him. "So I'm sorry it wasn't me, alright? Dean, I'm sorry."

Dean watched Sam break down and he nodded slowly, "S'ok Sammy. You don't have to apologize, I believe you."

Sam nodded his jaw clenching. Kelsey saw him like that and couldn't help but tear up. Her heart went out to the poor guy. He'd lost his mother, his girlfriend, his father, and then his brother too. He was probably feeling like he'd just been given the world to get his brother back.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Sam's soul remains intact, but it does raise a sticky question."

Dean glanced at Kelsey with a piercing look and she bit her lip and looked away. "If he didn't pull me out, then what did?"

Kelsey coughed and then cleared her throat. She smiled when all three men turned and looked at her. "Hi."

Sam smiled at her politely, "Um, hi . . . who are you?"

She smiled sweetly at him and reached out her hand, "I'm Kelsey Brenner." She told him brightly, but paused after that, not sure what else to say.

Dean jumped in then and gave her a pointed look. "Yeah, this is Kelsey. She's the one who found me when I came to."

"Sam," he offered a crooked smile at her and shook her hand.

Kelsey blushed a little at the look he gave her as he studied her. Something popped into her head at Dean's words, but she chose to keep them to herself, but she couldn't help the small grin that overtook her features.

_Finders keepers, losers weepers_.

* * *

><p>Sam went to the fridge and retrieved four beers, but he paused. He turned towards Kelsey and rose a brow, "You legal?"<p>

She sputtered and laughed, careful to hold her side. "Oh gosh, you're so funny," She turned towards Dean, "He always this funny?"

"Not usually." Dean remarked, reaching out for his beer. Sam handed Dean and Bobby their beers, but walked past Kelsey and sat next to her, keeping her beer on his other side.

"Sam, c'mon, please?"

"I was serious, there's no way you're over eighteen." Sam said casually, sipping from his beer.

Kelsey ran a hand down her face in frustration, "How would you like me to prove to you that I'm over eighteen Sam, I don't have my wallet!"

"It's not my problem," he told her, sipping from his beer bottle casually. She watched him and glared at him evilly. She stuck her tongue out at Dean when he chuckled.

Kelsey let her shoulders sag in defeat before she sat up straighter with a grin on her face. "What if I had another way to show you I'm legal?"

Sam snorted, "Okay, I'll bite, what are you talking about?"

Dean and Bobby watched this interaction silently as they sipped their beers. Dean looked at Kelsey curiously and studied her. Did she look younger than eighteen? God, he hoped not. He didn't like that he had been having less-than-appropriate thought about a teenage girl. He grimaced.

Sam waited patiently as she stood up in front of him. "Okay, well I got this the day I turned twenty one and that was like two years ago." She turned her back to Dean and Bobby, so she was facing only Sam. She gave him a pointed look and lifted the hem of her shirt fractionally on her right side. She also had to pull the waist band of her jeans down a bit to expose the small and dark protection tattoo.

It was the same one that Sam and Dean had on their left pecs; the pentagram. Sam balked, "How old are you?" he asked, incredulously.

She snorted, "I'm twenty three, and I'm perfectly legal enough to drink a beer."

He shrugged and handed her the beer; she smiled as she twisted off the top and sipped it. She sighed and then smacked him on the arm.

"Ow!" Sam leaned away from her, "What was that for?"

She smiled into her bottle as she took another sip, "For being a bitch and not giving me my beer."

Dean barked out a laugh and shook his head at his brother and the animated blonde. His laughter died slowly as he realized how long it had been since he'd really laughed. He gazed at Kelsey curiously, what was she doing to him?

Bobby rolled his eyes, "Idjit," he muttered.

Kelsey turned her bright smile towards him and lifted her beer towards him before taking as sip. "You know you love 'em, Bobby."

He shook his head, unable to stop the grin from spreading across his face, and then he knew. This girl's laughter was infectious and her smile was contagious. Maybe she'd be good for the Winchesters; they needed some cheer in their life, especially now.

Dean turned to Sam suddenly, "So, what were you doing around here if you weren't digging my grave?"

Sam raised his brows and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Well, once I figured out I couldn't save you, um, I started hunting down Lilith. Trying to get some payback," he admitted, tipping back his beer as Dean gave him an 'oh really' skeptical expression. Kelsey smirked, she just loved the faces he made; they were just so . . . irresistible?

"All by yourself?" Bobby asked, his voice telling Dean that he didn't believe Sam either. "Who do you think you are your old man?"

Sam looked down, suddenly uncomfortable, "Ah . . ."

Dean stood up and started looking at something behind Kelsey, moving closer to it as Sam apologized to Bobby. "Sorry, Bobby. I shoulda called, I was pretty messed up.

Kelsey looked behind her shoulder and saw what had caught Dean's eye and blushed; she had been sitting on a pink and black lacy bra. She held it up, a blond brow raised towards the younger Winchester. "This yours, Sam?"

Dean walked over to her and hooked his finger under the strap and held it out to Sam. "Oh yeah, I really feel your pain." He smirked and rolled his head at him. Sam just raised his eyebrows, embarrassed.

Sam scoffed, trying to not let it get to him, "Anyways, uh, I was checking these demons outta Tennessee and then they took a hard left and booked up here."

Dean turned to look at Sam, "When?"

Sam paused in thought and then brought the bottle to his lips, "Yesterday morning."

Dean looked at Bobby, "When I busted out."

Bobby looked down in thought, "You think these demons are here cause o' you?"

Dean made a why-the-hell-notface and Sam turned to his brother, "But why?"

"Well, I don't know, some bad ass demon drags me out, and now this, I mean it's gotta be connected somehow?"

Bobby looked at Dean, "How you feeling anyhow?"

Dean blinked at Bobby and shrugged, "I'm a little hungry."

"No, I mean like you feel like yourself? Anything strange or different?"

Dean stared at Bobby, "Or demonic?" Dean suggested, "Bobby, how many times do I have to prove I'm me!"

"Yeah well no demon's gonna let you loose outta the goodness of their hearts. There's gotta be something nasty planned."

Dean shook his head and sipped at his beer, "Well I feel fine."

Kelsey interjected then, "You know what would help?"

Dean glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "What's that Blondie?"

She glared at him, "Well, for starters, don't call me Blondie."

"Or what?"

"You don't want a threat from me, Dean." She warned him, but he was grinning like the cat that ate the canary.

"I'm quakin' in my boots . . . Blondie."

Kelsey clenched her fists and squeezed her eyes shut in an effort to remain calm, she told herself it wouldn't help if she punched the smirk right off his face. She counted to three slowly, and when her breathing returned to normal, she opened her eyes and smiled slowly at him.

"The things I know to do with a knife, Dean. The things I know." She told him cryptically but it hadn't phased Dean one bit. He liked that he could push her buttons and he wanted to see what would happen if he made her snap.

Sam chuckled and leaned over towards his sibling, "Maybe you should watch it Dean, she looks pretty scary right now."

Dean shook his head, "Nah, she probably couldn't hurt a fly." He said with the utmost confidence.

Kelsey smiled and used her finger to beckon him closer. He grinned his charming Winchester smile and made his way over to her, stopping just in front of her. "Yes, Blondie?"

"Oh, Dean." She sighed, sounding like a disappointed kindergarten teacher talking to a troublesome student, "Don't call me that."

"And why not?" He asked, watching her with a smirk.

Kelsey leaned forward and traced a finger on each side of his neck, "Because Dean, I may not hurt you. But I have other ways to get you off my case."

Dean raised a brow, "Oh yeah, and how's—"

His sentence trailed off as Kelsey quickly used her index and middle fingers to apply pressure to where his carotid arteries should be and blocked them off just long enough for Dean to black out. She watched in bemusement as his body tumbled to the ground in a heap.

Sam's eyes shot wide and he stood up quickly, giving Kelsey a horrified look. "You didn't . . ."

She shook her head, a small smile on her face, "Nah," she bent down and checked his pulse, "Pulse is strong. He, uh, just checked out for a while." She shrugged.

Her shoulders tensed when Sam broke out into fits of laughter, occasionally wiping a stray tear from his eye. "Wow, can you teach me how to do that?"

She smiled at Sam and shook her head, "I think I'll be in trouble when he wakes up." She glanced down at the unconscious Dean warily, but Sam just sighed.

Bobby stood from his seat and shook his head, "What exactly did you do?"

She sighed, almost ashamed she'd done it, but damn it he had pissed her off. "I used the pressure point in his neck and when you cut off both of the carotid arteries' blood flow it can make your mind go on stand-by temporarily."

"So basically," Sam interjected gleefully, "Dean fainted." He laughed again when Kelsey nodded slowly.

"Seriously? And you asked _me _if I was old enough to drink?" She turned to Bobby, "I suddenly understand your pain; they are idjits."

Bobby chuckled and glanced down at Dean, "How long you think he'll be out?"

They all turned to look down at the knocked-out Dean and Kelsey gave a shrug, "It's different for everyone. My guess would be fifteen minutes to half an hour, but I wouldn't really know." She smiled sheepishly, "That's the first time I've ever had to try it out."

Bobby and Sam shared a pointed look before Bobby sighed. "Alright, well I think I know how to answer some of the particularly sticky questions."

"How's that?" Sam asked curiously.

Kelsey started smiling, thinking she might know what Bobby was going to suggest.

"I know a Psychic, few hours out. Something this big, maybe she's heard the other side talkin'."

Kelsey grinned, "When we leavin'?"

Bobby gave her a look and she scrunched up her face, already knowing the answer. "Well, I'm gonna head up there now and get her filled in on some stuff, while you two keep an eye on him until he wakes up."

Sam nodded, "Alright, we'll meet you there when he does." Bobby left after giving Sam the address and telling him that the Psychic's name was Pamela Barnes.

Kelsey sighed, and glared at Dean's unconscious body, "Why'd you have to be a dick and piss me off? Now I have to wait to meet the psychic!"

Sam chuckled, "You really wanna meet her that badly?" he asked her as he sat beside her on the edge of the bed.

"Oh, Sam, you've no idea . . ." She looked at him and frowned. She wanted to tell him about how she'd grown up interested in paranormal stuff and how it had always intrigued her. She wanted to tell him everything when she looked up into his caring hazel eyes and she was instantly reminded of her baby sister. Hell no, she was not going down that road. She cleared her throat and looked away.

Sam shrugged, "So, you want anything to eat? I'm betting that when Dean wakes up he's gonna be hungry."

"And pissed."

Sam nodded as he picked up the keys to the Impala from the table.

"And pissed." He agreed.

"Wait," she said, her voice rising in panic, "You're not gonna leave me here with him are you? What if he wakes up?" Her eyes slid to Dean's unconscious body lying precariously on the floor, and she thought of what it would be like to be attacked by a volatile bear, and compared it to when he woke up.

She shivered slightly.

Sam chuckled as he pulled the door closed behind him, "Just don't knock him out again!" he laughed over his shoulder and left.

Kelsey huffed, "_Winchesters_!"

She sat back on the bed and let herself fall back onto it, her feet still resting on the floor. She smiled to herself and rolled her eyes as Dean snored loudly from his position on the floor. Kelsey also laughed when she realized that neither Bobby nor Sam had made the move to help Dean off the floor after he'd fainted.

She stared up at the ceiling and started to pass the time by finding shapes in the popcorn on the ceiling. Oh yeah, _this_ was fun.


	7. You're Only Gonna Let Me Down

**For anyone interested, this chapter was inspired by Kelly Clarkson's song "Let Me Down". It's an awesome song and I couldn't stop listening to it. :3**

* * *

><p>Chapter 7<p>

You're Only Gonna Let Me Down

Kelsey had been lying on the bed for at least half-an-hour before she couldn't stand it any longer. Her thoughts hadn't taken her anywhere productive, and now she was making irritated faces at the ceiling. She had nothing to do but chew on her lip and tap her foot to a random beat.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She was completely and utterly bored. And then, a troubling thought hit her, _where is Sam?_

Walking over to the door and checking outside, looking down the hallway, and finding no Sam, Kelsey walked over to the dinette set and pulled out the complimentary pencil and paper. Sighing again, she started sketching random symbols, her eyes occasionally drifting towards Dean as he slept, his face so open and innocent, so unlike the way he was when conscious.

She made a promise silently, that she would do her best to see him be happy and smile more often—a real, genuine smile.

Dean woke with a start, but from the hunting instincts that were ingrained in him since he was a toddler, he cautiously kept his body still and eyes shut. Without moving an inch, he slowly opened his eyes, turning towards the sound of pencil against paper.

He blinked and his gazed zeroed in on Kelsey as she bent over the table. He watched her silently and noticed how her shoulders were full of tension, her neck straining, and her face stoic.

He cleared his throat and sat up fast. Instantly regretting that decision as the blood rushed to his head much too quickly and made his eyes cross as he felt increasingly dizzy.

Kelsey paused in her sketch and looked to him sitting on the ground as he held his head in his hands. "Careful, you have to move pretty slowly until the blood flow returns to normal."

She turned towards him, "You've been out for a while."

Dean gave her a dark look that made her shiver and, she realized she was going to get it. "What exactly did you to me?" he asked gruffly, as he moved to stand.

She gave a nervous laugh, setting her pencil aside, "Uh, well as a nurse, I learned a few tricks."

"What did you do?" he repeated, his voice firm, and his stare hard.

She grimaced, not from his attempt at intimidation, but from her guilt, "I might have—maybe—used your pressure point to knock you out?"

She forced out the words, her eyes on her sketch, like it was suddenly the most important thing in the world.

"Seriously?" he demanded and pushed himself to his feet, trying to make the room stop spinning and grabbed the edge of the chair to balance himself.

"Sorry, it was a mistake in judgment. I sort of get carried away with myself when someone pisses me off." She explained quietly, her guilt rushing in at full-speed.

He nodded once, almost curtly and tried not to grind his teeth down to the gums. He shook it off, and focused on the next round of questions he had running through his head, "Where's Sam and Bobby?" he asked, looking around the room, finding it empty of the familiar people.

"Bobby went to see a friend that might be able to help figure out how you got out and Sam . . . Well, he _went_ to get food." She told him, hugging one knee to her chest, her brow puckered with worry for the youngest Winchester.

"What do you mean, how long has he been gone?"

Kelsey blew out a breath, "Only for a bit, he'll be back soon." She lied, smoothly. She licked her lips nervously as he nodded, somehow believing her. She held back from releasing a breath of relief, the only reason she lied was because she wasn't sure if she had any reason to worry, and didn't want to set off the cannon that was Dean Winchester when he was worried about his younger brother.

She really hoped Sam was okay.

He raised an eyebrow at her and sat back on the edge of the bed, facing her. "You do realize you're somehow part of me being let out, right?"

Kelsey nodded sheepishly and he continued, "You wanna tell me what even happened?"

She sighed, "Well, I'm not exactly sure. All I know is that I'd been dreaming about you in Hell and that for some reason I could reach you . . ."

"Yeah, I uh . . . could hear you in my head. But you never spoke out loud."

"I think I was afraid to. I was afraid to let him know I was there, and that I was there for you."

"_Him_?"

"The man that was torturing you, the one that made that horrible offer."

Dean furrowed his brows at that, but chose to ask instead, "What happened that last time, though?" he asked instead.

She took a deep breath, "Well, when he offered you that deal, I just remember getting so angry that he would hold that over you while you were being tortured. The next thing I know I'm knocking him to the ground and I guess he stabbed me right before the bright light hit—and then I woke up lying next to your grave." She shrugged and rested her chin on her raised knee, her hands clasped together and resting around her ankle.

"I remember the light, and then I'm waking up in a pine box and digging my way out. Then I remember coming up for air." Their eyes met, and the memory of the kiss they shared, though going unspoken, was very present in their minds.

Kelsey blushed, and turned her head away but not before Dean saw the hint of a smile playing at her lips.

He suddenly stood and walked over to crouch in front of her. He gently brought her chin to face him, and he was rewarded with looking into her clear, almost teal eyes. He blinked and studied the unique grey-blue color of her eyes. They weren't quite dark blue and they weren't completely grey either, but they reminded him of a beautiful, storming ocean.

"You saved me," he whispered, scolding himself for the unshed tears in his eyes. He blinked them back as Kelsey reached her hand out and placed her palm on his stubble-roughened cheek.

She smiled down on him, and placed a gentle kiss to his nose before pulling back, to see his bright and surprised green eyes. She used her thumb to stroke his cheek and she tilted her head at him in thought.

"You didn't deserve to be there in the first place, Dean."

Dean wanted to believe her so badly, but deep inside he knew how close he had been to torturing souls just to save himself. What kind of monster would do that?

Kelsey could see his train of thought as clearly as if it were written on his face. "You didn't." she confirmed, placing both hands on either side of his face and forcing him to look her in the eye. "You. Did. Not. Deserve. To. Be. In. Hell."

He became lost in the severe look in her impossibly blue eyes and found his reserve slipping. He nodded his head slowly, barely blinking.

Dean's eyes glanced down at her red lips and back to her wide eyes. He caught himself smirking, seeing that she had done the same thing.

Kelsey cut her eyes back to his jade orbs once she saw the slight smirk twisting his lips. She raised an eyebrow at him and pulled away, knowing she couldn't go there—not again, anyway.

Dean reluctantly stood and frowned down at her, just as Sam walked back in with empty arms.

"Sammy? Where's the pie?"

"Wh-what?" Sam asked him, confused and Kelsey refrained from laughing at his puppy-dog look.

"You left to get food, but you're empty-handed." She glanced to Dean, "And apparently he wants pie." She explained.

Sam scoffed, a smile breaking out on his face, "When does Dean not want pie?"

"True."

"So, where is the food, Sammy?" Dean cut in, losing his patience. He was hungry again.

"Oh," Sam smiled sheepishly, and shoved his hand in his pockets awkwardly, "Uh . . ."

Kelsey rolled her eyes and stood up, stretching. "Keys?" she held out her hand to Sam, expecting him to toss them to her.

Before Sam could hand them over, Dean intercepted and snatched them from his baby brother's hand. Kelsey crossed her arms and raised a brow.

"What, don't trust me to drive your baby?" She asked him, her voice dangerously soft.

He blinked and grinned cockily down at her. "The only other person who drives my car is Sam and I don't even really like him driving, because he drives like a girl."

"Hey!" Sam protested from the fridge, as he pulled out a cold beer.

Kelsey's face remained impassive as she watched him silently.

She didn't even blink.

He watched her, watching him and his brows rose after a few minutes of silence. "You play poker?"

She smirked, knowing where he was going with his question and shook her head, "Nope, never learned."

"You'd be great at it," he told her, giving her a strange, appraising look.

"It's been said once or twice," Kelsey shrugged and hooked some of her hair behind her ear.

". . . Right, so guess I'm getting the food then."

Sam looked up from his laptop with a thoughtful look on his face. "Uh, Chinese sounds good?"

Dean nodded, and tossed the keys up in the air. "Mickey D's it is, then."

With that, he slammed the door behind him.

Kelsey crossed her arms and sat back down in the chair by her drawing. She returned to it and added more shading to the face. She paused and looked down at it, thinking maybe she needed to take some more art instruction classes.

Sam looked up when he heard her sit down on the chair again and tilted his head as she picked up the pencil. "Whatcha doin'?"

She turned to him, a shy smile on her face. "Nothing."

He got up and walked over to where she sitting, to see what she was hiding only to be thwarted by her turning the paper over and placing her hands over it.

"C'mon! I'm just curious, please?" He looked down at her, pouting and Kelsey's eyes became as wide as saucers.

_So this is why no one can resist the puppy eyes from Sam_, she thought bemusedly. She felt as if his hazel eyes could see straight into her soul. Shivering a bit, she slowly nodded.

"Fine," she looked at him sternly, "But no laughing. I haven't drawn in a while."

She slowly flipped the page over and showed Sam the sketch she'd been working on. Sam studied the drawing and narrowed his eyes, trying to see it more clearly. It was of a young woman, with a heart-shaped face, wide eyes, long lashes, impossibly full lips and a cute button nose. Her hair was long and wavy.

He glanced up at Kelsey and frowned. "It it supposed to be you?" he asked gently.

She laughed, "No, Sam. It's my sister. She's about two years younger than I am, and I haven't—I haven't seen or talked to her in a long time. I just sort of miss her, I guess."

"Were you close?" He asked, sitting down in the opposite chair and resting his chin in his hand.

She looked down at the likeness of her sister and sighed. "Yeah, we were. Up until like three and a half months ago, when I stopped talking all together. She took it pretty hard, we shared everything with each other and when I pulled away, she . . . got so scared. She would call every day and I wanted to pick up but I just couldn't, Sam. And it not only broke my heart, but it broke hers too."

She wiped a hand over her face and sighed.

"God, Sam, I messed up so badly with her. I just wish I could fix things. But, it's too late now."

Sam frowned and reached out his hand to encompass hers and squeezed. "It's never too late. Just call her."

She looked up at Sam and smiled. "Thanks, Sam." She looked away from him, and felt the guilt rolling around in her stomach again. She pulled her hand away, and bit her lip. "It's not that simple though."

Sam watched her carefully, and could see she was hiding something from him. He knew how unhealthy it was to hold things inside and he also knew that secrets could tear you apart inside until nothing was left—he knew by personal experience.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I thought that's what we were doing?" she turned to him with a slight smile.

"I mean, do you wanna tell me why just calling her won't help?"

Kelsey looked away for a moment and decided she needed to tell him, but it still wasn't her place to tell Dean's secrets. She nodded to herself, _so I won't._

She looked at Sam and smiled softly, "You're gonna think I'm crazy."

He barked out a laugh, sitting back in the chair, "Try me."

She took a deep breath and slowly explained to him what she had already told Dean, minus the part about Hell.

Sam stared at her in shock. "So, you're really from another world?"

"Basically, I still don't really know why I'm here though."

"So how _did_ you get here, though?" He asked.

She winced and rubbed her eyes, "I'm not sure I can tell you Sam. It's not my place; I don't want to lie to you, so I won't. I just can't tell you everything."

"Why not?"

She looked him straight in the eye, "It's Dean's story to tell and also his decision. If he doesn't want to share, he doesn't have to. You understand me?"

"But—"

"No buts, Sam. I'm serious; he wasn't too thrilled that I know. He doesn't want anyone to know and it's going to stay like that until he decides otherwise, alright?"

"Okay," Sam breathed and nodded his head slowly, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"So, please don't tell him I told you." she finished quietly.

He nodded again and sighed, then turned to look at her, raising his brows. "So do we have fans?"

Kelsey laughed and couldn't keep the grin off her face.

_Here we go again_.

* * *

><p>Dean hopped into the Impala and ran his hand lovingly over the dash, "Hey Baby, you miss me?"<p>

He ignored the strange look an old woman gave him as she passed by, walking her dog. He started up the engine and groaned slightly as it purred at him. His eyes roamed the car appreciatively and when he went to crank up the music, he froze.

"What the hell?" He stared in horror at the offending piece of metal strapped haphazardly to the stereo as country music poured out the speakers.

He ripped the iPod dock off his dash and chucked it over his shoulder, hearing a satisfactory thump as it landed in the back seat.

"C'mon, Sammy, I told you to take care of her, not douche her up!" he mumbled as if Sam could hear him and pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

He headed to the nearest McDonald's and smiled to himself as he adjusted his grip on the familiar steering wheel. He had missed this.

He ordered and munched on some of Kelsey's fries as he drove back to the hotel, hoping she wouldn't mind. Dean parked the car in the same spot and went up to the room.

As if she'd been waiting for his return, the door was nearly ripped off its hinges by Kelsey just as he had raised a hand to knock on the door.

"Hey," he told her and squeezed past her into the room, barely admitting to himself that he had enjoyed that small point of time that her body had grazed his.

Sam jumped up from the bed where he had been sitting with his laptop and started the search for food after Dean set the bag down.

"That took you less time than it took Sam," Kelsey pointed out to him, and gave Sam a strange look. "And you actually came back with food."

Sam choked on the fries he had shoved into his mouth and turned to look at Dean and Kelsey. He swallowed painfully and blinked back the tears that it had brought to his eyes.

"I . . . uh, found a hunt." Sam said, trying to cover his tracks. Kelsey looked at Dean, to see if he was buying Sam's bullshit, but apparently he was. She sighed, and gave Sam a look, but let it go. She'd deal with him when they were alone.

_How many more secrets am I going to get caught in the middle of? _She asked herself before sitting down in the chair at the dinette set.

Dean tilted his head to the side as his eye caught something on the table, before Kelsey could stop him; he snatched up the paper and held it above his head as she stood on her tip toes trying to get it back.

"Dean, it's not funny! Give it back!" she growled at him and leaned into him, trying to reach it as he held it back from her.

He lifted his head and took a good look at what turned out to be her drawing. "Did you draw this, Blondie?"

"Do _not_ call me that!" she huffed and stepped back, obviously defeated. "And, yeah maybe."

Dean whistled low in his throat, "It's good. Doesn't do you justice, though. Plus, your hair isn't curly." He told her as if that was the obvious problem.

Kelsey scoffed at him and Sam smiled to himself as he ate his fries.

"Dean, that's not me."

"Hmm? Who is it then? Your twin sister?"

Kelsey laughed, "No, she's two years younger, but everyone always said we were practically identical. If you didn't count that her eyes are hazel and her hair is darker than mine."

Dean gave her a strange look, "You have a younger sister?"

"Yes, what's the problem?"

"Nothing," he glanced at Sam and then back at her. "Did you know this?" He asked Sam.

"She just told me while you were gone. They are pretty identical, aren't they?"

Kelsey frowned, "It's not hard to tell us apart though. Like I said, she has dark blond curly hair and dark eyes. We're like polar opposites."

Sam turned to her as she looked down at her feet and scuffed her shoe. "Do you think it'd work if we tried to call her?"

Kelsey looked up at him and tried to smile but her lips barely moved. "It'd probably just be someone else. Remember, I technically don't exist here?"

Dean tensed at that statement, and Kelsey grimaced as she turned towards him. "Oh yeah, forgot to mention that. I sorta told Sam I'm not from here."

"How much did you tell him?" he asked her, his voice low and dangerous. His face was close to hers and it made it very hard to breathe normally.

"I didn't lie to him Dean, but I didn't tell him about you if that's what you meant. I simply told him I couldn't tell him something that wasn't mine to tell. He understood and said that he wouldn't push you." She looked at him and pleaded him to understand she couldn't lie to Sam. "I'm sorry, Dean. I don't like lying to people if I can help it. Sam said he wanted you to know that he's there for you if you need him but he won't pressure you or anything. We're both here for you."

Dean balled his fists and squeezed his eyes shut. He took a deep breath and shoved his emotions in deeper. He nodded slowly, and clenched his jaw.

"Okay," he told her quietly.

She reached up, her back to Sam, and touched his face gently. His eyes met hers and she smiled shyly. "Are you mad at me?"

"Furious, actually," his lips curved up a bit, finding it hard to hold onto his anger as she looked at him with her wide eyes.

Sam cleared his throat and smiled when the two turned to him, startled out of their little bubble.

"So, this hunt . . ." Sam started.

"Can wait until after we meet Bobby at Pamela's." Kelsey gave him a stern look, and from the expression on Sam's face, he had completely forgotten.

"Oh! Right, when should we leave then?" he asked her, and Dean couldn't believe it. When had his forfeited his position of command to the puny blonde?

"Uh, I guess whenever Dean's ready to go." She amended, seeing the look on Dean's face when Sam had asked her opinion. She was pretty sure, Sam was just being polite, but whatever. Let Dean think what he wanted of it.

Dean nodded his approval, "Let's eat and then hit the road."

Kelsey eyed the two boys as they dove into their food like there was no promise of food tomorrow. She laughed as Dean asked her if she was going to eat her burger and feasted on it before she could answer. She didn't mind. She was vegetarian.

"What is it, Kels? You haven't touched your food . . . or what's left of it." Sam pointed out, giving Dean a look before looking back at her.

"I don't eat meat," she explained and shrugged, eating a fry.

"Oh god, don't tell me you're a tree hugger or somethin'." Dean whined as he shoved her burger in his mouth, one ginormous bite at a time.

She smirked, "No, I just don't like it. I've never tried it and I never will. Honestly? It doesn't look appetizing at all."

Sam laughed and shook his head, "So you're a vegetarian?"

"Basically," she nodded.

"So you really don't eat bacon, or salami, or ham or—"

"Nope."

"Jesus," Dean said, his eyes wide at the thought that anyone could forfeit delicious food for tofu, or whatever vegetarians actually ate.

"Actually, I go by Kelsey now."

Sam chuckled when Dean grunted, "Cute, but seriously? How do you eat?"

Kelsey shrugged, "I don't know, I usually find a way."

"So how are we supposed to feed you?" Sam asked, a smile toying with his lips as he glanced between Dean and Kelsey. Dean shot his head to Sam.

"Oh, so you're keeping me?" Kelsey asked with a sarcastic smile.

"Shut up, you know I didn't mean it like that." Sam blushed a little and looked down at his burger.

"She can't stay with us, Sam." Dean said quietly, not looking at Kelsey.

"What do you mean, Dean? Where is she supposed to go? She's not exactly from here." Sam argued.

Kelsey looked at Dean and saw his determination and the strange look on his face. She knew what he was doing and frankly, it pissed her off.

"She can't stay with us, Sammy." Dean said simply, still avoiding eye contact.

Sam was beginning to get frustrated and he was having a hard time not showing it. He clenched his jaw and balled his fists. "Damn it, Dean, why the hell not?"

"Because it's too fucking dangerous! Both of us have already died once! We don't need someone else to look after too!" Dean exploded, his face becoming red from strain.

Kelsey set her beer bottle on the table and wiped her hands on the back of her pants as she stood up suddenly. She looked from one brother and nodded shortly.

She turned from them without a single word and walked to the door.

"Kelsey, wait!" Sam started to get up from his chair, and stop her but she paused at the door and glanced back at them, her eyes wistful.

She looked at Sam and smiled sadly, "Bye, Sam."

Without another word, she walked out the door and swallowed her sadness as she moved down the hall, looking at her feet.

She didn't know where she was going but, she knew she needed to be somewhere quiet and she needed to think.


	8. Rather Feel Pain

Chapter 8

Rather Feel Pain Than Nothing At All

Kelsey found herself wandering the streets aimlessly, with her arms crossed and her eyes lowered. She didn't know how long she'd been out there, but it'd obviously been awhile since the streets and sidewalks were mostly devoid of people.

Somehow, one way or another, she'd seen the look on Dean's face and the way he was holding himself before he even exploded at Sam and explained why he didn't want her there. She'd seen that he was pushing her away, before she even got the chance of becoming closer than mild acquaintances.

She sighed, she knew that just her being there were messing the natural—or supernatural—of things up, but there was nothing she could really do at this point.

She shook her head, and looked up briefly as she crossed the street before letting her eyes fall back down to her feet, her thoughts drowning out the noise around her. The loud screeching of tires startled her, and then suddenly she was being pushed out of the way. Her back thumped against the hard cement of the sidewalk, and the weight of someone extremely heavy was pressing down on her ribcage.

"What the hell were you thinking?"A familiar demanding voice made her look up, and the wild look in his eyes made her pause.

Finally, having little to no oxygen left, she pushed at his chest. When Dean barely moved, she used all her strength and shoved him off her, roughly. He looked at her as he rolled to his side, hating that he'd hurt her, but she avoided his eyes.

She got up, rather slowly; he noticed clutching her side and breathing shallowly. He stood up and tried to get closer, but she stopped him.

"Is your side still hurting you?" he asked; his tone carefully concealed his worry. He knew that he shouldn't care about her so much after just meeting her, but he couldn't help it. He already felt so connected to her—and he didn't want to lose her like he'd lost just about everyone else.

"No, I'm fine." She rasped out, and carefully pulled aside her jacket and pulled up her shirt to see that she'd almost ripped the glued-shut wound open, and that she was bleeding again.

"You're bleeding again; c'mon we have to get you stitched up."

She looked up at him, her stormy eyes filled with pain, "I'll take care of it on my own, Dean. You can't afford to look after me, remember?" she threw his foolish words back in his face, without as much venom as she'd have liked, but the pain in her side was making her a little woozy.

Dean caught her as she swayed on her feet, "Whoa, looks like we need each other," he gathered her up, one arm around her shoulders, and the other under her legs.

She frowned, knowing something was wrong, but her mind too fuzzy to form coherent thoughts, "No, Dean, put me down."

He ignored her and lengthened his strides back towards the hotel, "I think I might just need you more than you need me," he told her quietly, after her eyes had closed, her brain had just about blacked out.

"Silly, Dean. 'Course I need you." She told him, her voice nearly inaudible.

Dean adjusted his grip on her, trying not to jostle her too much and carried her back to the room, feeling the weight of guilt settle on his shoulders once more.

* * *

><p>Dean kicked the hotel room door open, not paying attention if he broke it or not, and carried Kelsey inside quickly, setting her on the bed as gently as he could. Sam jumped up, seeing an unconscious Kelsey in his brother's arms and immediately grabbed the first aid kit after seeing blood staining Dean's hands.<p>

Sam kneeled by Kelsey on the bed and started pulling her jacket off and tossing it aside before pulling her shirt away from the wound. When he saw the ripped open wound, he glanced up at Dean.

"What happened to her?" he asked; his face grim and his voice deepening to match his expression. Dean shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, his face mimicking the younger Winchester's.

"A demon stuck his knife into her side. That's all I can say, but I found some superglue when we stopped at the fill-up station and glued it shut. It must've gotten ripped open when I knocked her out of the way of the car.

Sam nodded tersely and pulled out floss and a needle from his bag, "I need whiskey, and some wet rags—go!"

Dean zoomed to his duffle whipping out the bottle of whiskey and shoving it into Sam's waiting hands before heading into the bathroom for the rags.

Sam winced as he carefully prodded the open wound and sighed. He poured some of the whiskey onto the open wound, earning a low hiss from the awakening young girl. Kelsey's eyes fluttered and she whipped her head to the side, feeling the burn of whiskey work its way into her bloodstream. She bit back a scream, and fought for unconsciousness. She didn't want to be awake if this was the pain she had to face.

Dean came running out with the wet towels and Sam took them, wiping down the surface quickly.

"Dean, I need you to hold her down." Sam gave his brother a dark look.

"But—" he'd started to protest, but Sam gave him a death glare that shut him up completely.

"If you want this girl to live, then get your ass over there and _hold her down_!" He barked out at the elder Winchester, his voice taking on an authorative tone Dean had never heard from Sammy before.

He quickly did as he was told and pinned her arms to the bed as Sam poured more whiskey onto the wound, trying to make sure it was sterilized before he stitched it closed. Her back arched off the bed and she thrashed against Dean's grip. But, when Sam slid the needle into her skin, she hissed violently.

He stayed by her side as Sam finished tying the thread together and poured more whiskey over the wound. She shifted a few times and let out a strangled gasp but, didn't move otherwise. His brows furrowed, but at least she wasn't in pain anymore.

Sam wiped down the stitched surface of her skin and placed a square of gauze over it and taped it down. When finished, he picked up the trash and tossed it, starting to put the first aid kit away.

Finally, when he finished, he turned to Dean and sighed, "What the hell, Dean?"

Dean looked down at the girl in his arms and nodded helplessly, "I know, Sammy, _I know_."

"Do you? Do you _really_?" Sam pushed, his voice rising slightly, "I don't think you _do_, Dean. She almost died, because of you. You pushed her away and she got her herself hurt."

Sam's breathing was choppy and he realized he needed to get some air. He ran his hand through his hair and tried to ignore the harsh stare from his sibling.

Dean sat there on the bed, holding Kelsey in his lap as she breathed, and watched as Sam paced throughout the small length of the room.

"I know, Sam. You don't think I know that?" he asked, trying to keep his voice low. "It's my fault that she got hurt in the first place and it's my fucking fault if anything else happens to her!" He heaved a few short breaths and then cleared his throat, calming down, "It's my fault because she wouldn't be here if it weren't for me." His voice was soft as he looked down at the girl in his arms.

On the inside, he was mildly alarmed that he already cared so much about her safety, but in that moment he decided it was because he felt a sense of responsibility for her, because of their situation.

Sam stopped pacing and sat down in a chair, watching Dean watching Kelsey. A small smile touched his lips, and yet the envy in his hazel eyes was clear. He wanted to have someone to hold like that, and to care for. He shook his head slowly, and tore his eyes away.

Kelsey coughed a little as her eyes fluttered open again. She was met with bright green orbs staring her in the face. She blinked slowly, and looked down to see the bloody mess of her clothes and the strange tightness in her lower abdomen.

A slight movement and, yes there it was. They had stitched up her wound. She heaved a breath, and sat up, blinking the spots from her vision.

"Who stitched me up?" She asked, her voice weary and she blinked, shocked at the weakness in her voice. Clearing her throat, she waited for someone to answer her or speak at all.

Sam sat forward then, looking at her sadly as he rested his hands on his knees, "I did. Dean held you down." He paused, with a glance at Dean, choosing to ignore the frantic shaking of Dean's head, behind Kelsey.

Sam just looked at her instead, "Why didn't you say that it was hurting?"

"It wasn't, not really. I used to have to help my dad with that kind of stuff all the time. He was always hurting himself on the saws and tools he used on the job. He didn't want to have to deal with stitches so, he had me glue them shut for him." She paused, her eyes getting a faraway look in them, "Though, maybe that's why he had a lot of health problems."

Dean ran his hand over his face and rubbed his eyes tiredly while Sam almost glared at him for being so foolish.

Kelsey cleared her throat and shifted Sam's attention back to her, "So, thanks for stitching me up, Sam." She smiled at him and he nodded.

"'Course." There was a pause in conversation, and Dean decided to ask a question he'd been meaning to ask.

"So . . . Blondie?"

She turned to Dean, ignoring the name he's branded her with, "Yes?"

A smirk twisted his lips; he knew that he'd break her eventually. "Well, I was just wondering if you'd wanna tell us why you're like immune to pain?"

She scowled at him, "I've already shared my stories with you, Dean."

His brows shifted up and glanced at Sam and his confused expression before letting his eyes slide back to hers. "Well, you see I believe that what you told me is true. But, you see I just don't think that's reason enough to not be bothered by pain at all."

Kelsey wanted to wipe the smug look off his face and she turned back to Sam, her face impassive. "He wants to know why I can handle pain."

Sam slowly nodded, unsure if he should be involved in this at all. She saw the confusion and hesitant set of his shoulders, and she nodded once in reply.

"Well, it's simple really. Mind over matter," She shrugged, a slight smile pulling at her lips, "My brother taught me that."

"Wait," Dean backtracked, waving his hand in the air as he focused on something only he could see, before his eyes met her. "You have a brother now, too?"

She smiled, knowing the topic of her ability to withstand pain being avoided, "Uh huh. He's about seven years older than me."

Dean blinked a couple of times, "Huh, you're parents really get busy don't they?"

She scoffed and smacked his chest, "Ha ha. No, I don't think they planned to have me or my sister. I'd tell you how I know that, but _I _wish my parents had saved me that particular bedtime story." She shuddered, "I mean, seriously? Who shares that with their kids?"

"Parents who set out to give you nightmares," Sam called from the table, his mouth hitched up on one side. "Or disturbed brothers," Sam continued.

Kelsey turned to Dean, cocking an eyebrow.

"Shut up, Sam!" he glanced at Kelsey, "Don't look at me like that, it's not like I gave him gory details, I just told him how much Mom and Dad loved each other," he added quietly.

Kelsey squeezed his arm and looked up into his eyes, trying to show him that she didn't judge him. Her face broke out into a smile however, when Sam awkwardly cleared his throat. She turned her head towards him, "Feeling left out, Sam?"

He snorted, "Right."

Kelsey smiled a little, "So, you guys wanna go meet this psychic, or what?"

Sam nodded and got up to pack his stuff, but Dean hung back, watching Kelsey with a pensive expression crossing his usual hard features as she went back to the drawing of her sister. He knew that he was acting weird, and that he shouldn't care so much about her already, but he knew it was nowhere near love. No, but maybe, it was the hope for love. Dean stopped his thoughts in their tracks and shook his head ruefully, moving to sit across from her as she sketched. But, he couldn't help watching her wistfully, a slight smile on his face.


	9. Psychic Connection

**A/N: I've only just realized that I haven't put a disclaimer on this story yet! Oops! **

**DISCLAIMER: Dean and Sam, and anything you recognize belongs to _Supernatural_.**

**Thank you to the reviewers! :) You help keep me in line, and motivated to keep writing. Anyway, because not many will actually read this, on with the story...**

**Enjoy. :3**

* * *

><p>Chapter 9<p>

Psychic Connection

Kelsey leaned forward from the back seat, and braced her forearms on the seat between Sam and Dean. She sighed, "If we're going to be in the car for much longer can we at least listen to some music?"

_Instead of sitting in complete, awkward silence_, she finished silently.

She glanced between the two quiet brothers, "Seriously, the silence is killing me," she added when no one spoke.

The three of them had been in the car for about two hours and she was starting to go stir-crazy. The tension in the silent Impala had been tangible. At one point, Kelsey thought about asking if she could borrow one of their knives, trying to slash at it. But, alas, another one of Kelsey's good-humored jokes were wasted on her own mind.

Dean finally glanced back at her and nodded, turning the volume dial up and blasting CCR's "Up Around The Bend." Kelsey started humming along, tapping her fingers on her bent knee as she stared out at the passing scenery. She'd always loved riding in cars, and watching the outside world pass by in a blur. It was peaceful, and most of her childhood memories had been of family vacations in their mini-van, driving through the countryside. She leaned back in her seat, and felt her lips pull up in a smile,

"Oh no," Sam groaned, "Not you too." He shook his head, grimacing.

Dean grinned, "Yeah, that's right Sammy, you've gotta realize it sooner or later. You've got horrible taste in music."

"Oh come on, Dean—"

Kelsey interrupted Sam, and gently poked his shoulder. "I like some classic rock, yes. But, I also enjoy a bunch of other genres of music too. I pretty much listen to everything." She shrugged at him with a wry smile.

Sam turned to his brother and gave him a smug grin, but Dean just stared out the windshield, mimicking Kelsey under his breath.

She groaned inwardly, and elbowed his shoulder lightly, "Hey, I didn't say that it was bad. I just mentioned that I also like other types too."

"Yeah, yeah." He said, and Kelsey leaned back in her seat. She glanced at him in the mirror, and saw his eyes crinkling like he was smiling widely.

Kelsey laughed silently and looked out the window, feeling her cheeks burning. She sort of zoned out then, her eyes turned inward as her thoughts took her back to the months she had nightmares of Dean being tortured, and the screams echoing in her head. Shutting her eyes tightly, she clenched her fists and pushed it out of her mind forcibly. If it disturbed her just witnessing it, how bad could it have been to actually live it? Her eyes moved back to the mirror, watching the light flicker in Dean's eyes, and she wondered how much of his pain he was really hiding.

* * *

><p>The trio got out of the Impala and looked up at the house that matched the address that Bobby had given them, Pamela something or other.<p>

Dean started walking up the drive, but Sam stopped him suddenly. "Hey, wait, Dean. You'll probably want these back." He said, and pulled Dean's talisman from underneath his shirt and pulled it over his head.

Dean took the necklace gratefully staring at it for a moment, "Thanks, man." He slipped it over his head, and finally felt like that missing piece was there, and that he would start feeling like his old self again. But, in the recesses of his mind came an echo of a scream, and a dark shadow hovering over him as blinding pain shot through his abdomen. He quickly shook off the thoughts, and cleared his throat, returning to the present.

"Yeah, don't mention it," Sam said, watching him closely, seeing the wrongness in his brother's eyes. He wanted to ask Dean how it bad it'd been for him in Hell, but remembering what Kelsey had told him, he bit his tongue.

Dean knocked on the door quickly, and less than a few seconds later, a woman about the same height as Kelsey opened the up door wide and gave a huge smile to the boys. When the woman's eye shifted over to Kelsey, her smile brightened, and her eyes softened.

Without breaking her gaze, she said to Bobby behind her. "So, these the boys then?"

Bobby nodded, out of her sight, "Sam, Dean. Pamela Barnes, best damn psychic in the state."

Dean grinned appreciatively, while Sam pursed his lips awkwardly, "Hi."

Kelsey smiled kindly at Pamela, wondering why she was still staring at her. She briefly wondered if she could read her mind, or see through her soul or something. With a subtle shiver down her spine as she noticed all eyes on her, she realized she missed having her sister around, because right about then she would have broken the ice with a witty comment or a snort of laughter, making a joke about how shy Kelsey could be.

She stretched out her hand towards the psychic, "Hi, I'm Kelsey."

"Oh sweetie, I know." Pamela gave her a heart-warming smile before pulling her into a bear hug. "It'll be alright. You'll see her again, don't you worry."

Kelsey raised her brows in question, but nodded. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, sweet pea." She turned her eyes on Dean, humming. "Dean Winchester, huh? Out of the fire and back in the frying pan—makes you a rare individual."

"If you say so."

"Come on in," she gestured with a twitch of her head, and stepped back inside the house, to let them inside.

"So have you heard anything?" Sam asked, getting right down to business, Kelsey looked at his face, and wondered if he ever got tired of doing this. Being who he was, doing what he did. She knew at one point he just wanted to settle down, have a family, a life, but after Dean had died, she wondered what he'd been doing, and what it had really done to him.

"Well, me and Bobby ouijaed our way through half a dozen spirits. No one seems to know who broke Dean out, or why."

Kelsey looked thoughtful, "So what's next then? Séance?" her eyes lit up hopefully and she smiled when Pamela grinned.

"Ooh, a girl after my own heart." Pamela purred and put an arm around her shoulder. "Yeah, see if we can see who did the deed."

All three men nodded, but Bobby had a pensive look on his face. "You're not gonna summon the damn thing here, are you?"

"No, I just wanna get a sneak peek at it." she waved him off, and looked at Kelsey, "Like a crystal ball, but without the crystal."

Kelsey blinked and swallowed as she looked into Pamela's knowing eyes and she smiled wearily. Kelsey felt a pit in her stomach, and knew that Pamela knew why she was there and what had happened to get her there.

Dean broke the silent conversation between the two women, "I'm game."

They shuffled down the stairs and started setting up the round table. Pamela placed a black tablecloth on its surface and turned to get some candles. As crouched down, her waistband of her jeans lowered and exposed her 'Jesse Forever' tattoo.

Kelsey seemed to have seen it first and she was curious, "Did it last forever?"

Pamela glanced back at her and smiled ruefully, "Sadly hon, nothing ever does."

Kelsey nodded and sighed, "You know, you have really good advice."

Pamela laughed and straightened, "Oh, I know. But it comes with a price."

"What—oh!" Kelsey exclaimed as Pamela smacked her ass as she passed by her. Kelsey blinked at the woman and smiled warily.

"I thought you liked Dean?" Kelsey asked quietly, her cheeks burning, and glancing at the two brothers as they had a quiet conversation of their own.

"Oh, honey, I do. But I like to have a little fun every once in awhile." She grinned cheekily at Kelsey and then turned as Dean came over to stand next to Kelsey. "You're invited too."

Pamela turned and left to set up the candles. Kelsey just kind of stared at her in shock. She hadn't expected that one. Dean looked between her and Pamela and then laughed lightly.

"What exactly was I invited to?" he asked with a waggle of his brows. He had seen the interaction between her and Pamela, and how her cheeks were now a bright pink, but he wanted to see what Kelsey would say.

She raised her brows and a smile curved her lips just slightly, "She offered me a night of fun, and then extended the invitation to you too."

She looked at Dean as he just sort of tilted his head at her, "Naughty fun." She clarified and he let his signature grin slip into place.

"Sounds like fun to me."

Kelsey snorted, "Anything is fun for you, Dean."

Kelsey turned away from Dean and walked up to the table, "Anything you need me to do?"

"Nah, sweetie, we're just about to start. Why don't you take seat?"

"Alright," she nodded and took the seat next to Pamela.

She made quick work of lighting the candles and Bobby took a seat next to Kelsey as Dean and Sam took their seat across from her.

She touched her forehead in thought, and turned to look at everyone in the eye, "Right . . . take each other's hands."

Kelsey reached out and took Bobby and Pamela's hands as the others at the table did the same.

"So, I need to touch something our mystery monster touched."

Pamela's hand snaked down below the table and then Dean's knee jumped against the table, making an audible thump.

"Whoa! Well, he didn't touch me there."

She laughed saucily, "My mistake."

Kelsey and Dean locked eyes and he saw her lips twitch in amusement. He smiled back at her, maybe Sam was right and Pamela really would eat him alive.

Dean cleared his throat, shaking off his over shirt and pulling his left shirt sleeve up to expose the handprint that was branded on his skin.

Sam sucked in a sharp breath, giving Kelsey and Bobby hard stares. She closed her eyes and sighed, she had forgotten that Sam hadn't seen the brand on his arm.

"Okay," Pamela slowly placed her hand on Dean's brand and he placed his hand over Kelsey's and Pamela's joined hands. He and Sam exchanged knowing expressions before Pamela started chanting.

"I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle . . . I invoke, conjure, and command you, appear unto me before this circle." She repeated it again, and Dean started opening his eyes as the TV in the corner turned on to static. Kelsey glanced behind her, and frowned. She looked at Dean and nodded, recognizing the hesitation in his eyes. She was just as worried about what this was leading up to.

"I invoke, conjure and command—"

A low ringing started and the table started shaking violently as Pamela paused in her chanting, her tone curious. "Castiel?"

Dean cut his eyes towards hers, and she furrowed her brows as if she was hearing something, or someone. "No, sorry Castiel, I don't scare easy."

"Castiel?" Dean asked, his face showing his worry, and confusion.

"It's name. It's whispering to me, warning me to turn back." Pamela answered him, keeping her eyes closed as she focused, and continued her chanting.

Dean and Sam looked at each other. Kelsey kept her eyes on Pamela and wasn't so sure she should continue.

"Maybe we should stop; what if there was a really good reason he was warning you to turn back?" Kelsey asked her, but Pamela ignored her.

"I conjure and command you, show me your face . . . I conjure and command you, show me your face . . ." She continued again and now Bobby was getting worried. He turned to Pamela and then glanced at Kelsey. "Maybe Kelsey was right, we should stop."

Pamela paused in her chanting as Kelsey started pulling her hand away, and pulled it back, "I almost got it!"

She continued, "I command you, show me your face! Show me your face! _Now_!" Suddenly the flames rose two feet from the candle wicks and Pamela started screaming in agony. Everyone turned to look at her in horror as her eyes were burned from their sockets, blood dripping down her cheeks.

Just as quickly as it had begun, it was over and Pamela became limp in her seat, falling to the ground. Kelsey leapt from her chair and leaned over Pamela, checking her vitals as Bobby called out to the boys, "Call 911, now!"

Sam shot upstairs to do so and Bobby and Dean kneeled by Pamela as Kelsey leaned over her, picking her head and shoulders and holding her up in her lap.

Pamela moaned out in agony, and Kelsey saw her burned eyelids, somehow knowing before she opened her eyes that they were gone. "I can't see! _I can't see_!" she cried out brokenly.

Kelsey looked up and met Dean's eyes, giving him a grim look. Whatever Pamela had seen, it was bad enough to burn her eyes out of her skull.

Pamela moaned again and Kelsey looked back down at her as she kept crying out, "Oh . . . oh God!"

* * *

><p>Kelsey and Dean sat at the table in Johnny Mac's diner, silently, while Sam was off in the corner talking on his phone to someone.<p>

When the waitress came to take their orders, Dean ordered himself and Sam two pies and Kelsey just asked for more water.

"Be up in a jiff." She said, all chipper, and shuffled away with her pen and pad.

Dean rubbed his forehead and took a gulp of his water. He glanced at Kelsey and a line formed between his brows as she covered her face with her hands. "You okay, Blondie?"

She laughed without humor, "My name's Kelsey, and yeah. I'm fine, but Pamela's not. I knew something wasn't right. I could feel it, Dean. And I couldn't stop it from happening. She lost her eyes."

He sighed heavily and Kelsey went silent, reverting back to her own thoughts. Dean looked up when Sam approached saying goodbye to whoever was on the phone. He snapped it closed and took a seat next to Kelsey, looking at Dean.

"What'd Bobby say?"

"Uh, Pam's stable. And out of the ICU."

Dean nodded, avoiding making eye contact by looking out the window of the diner, "And she's blind 'cause of us."

"And we still don't know what we're dealing with." Sam added on; his brows rising in question.

"That's not entirely true," Dean countered seriously, "We got a name: _Castiel_ or whatever. But the bottom line is, with the right mumbo jumbo, we can summon him and bring him right to us."

Sam looked at him and shook his head, "You're crazy, absolutely not." Sam looked at his brother with incredulity, "Pam took a peek at him and her eyes burned out of her skull and you wanna have a face to face—"

"You got a better idea?"

"Yeah as a matter of fact, I do. I followed some demons to town, right?"

"Okay . . ."

"So," Sam eyed his brother meaningfully, "We go find 'em. Someone's gotta know something about something, right?"

Before Dean could respond, the waitress came over with the boy's pies and set them down. She took a seat across from Kelsey and looked at the three with a twisted smile.

"You anglin' for a tip?" Dean asked, with a mocking smirk.

The waitress curled her lip, "I'm sorry I thought you were looking for us?" she asked sourly, and her eyes flashed black.

_Demon_, Kelsey thought morbidly, _this should end well_.

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, muttering, "Guess I'm not getting that water."

The two hunters—Kelsey included—looked around and noticed everyone in the diner were demons, and watching them closely. A man sitting at the counter stood up, and moved to the front door, locking it and blocking the exit.

The demon posing as their waitress turned back towards Dean with a snarky look on her face, "Dean . . . to Hell and back. Aren't you a lucky duck?"

"That's me," he replied, his voice going down an octave, as if he was getting angry. His eyes had narrowed, and there was a serious set to his shoulders, but besides that he seemed completely at ease, as if he weren't afraid of them. Kelsey guessed that he wanted them to think that, but deep inside he just as scared as she was.

"So you get to just stroll out of the pit, huh? Tell me, what makes _you _so special?"

Dean smirked, "I like to think its 'cause of my perky nipples." Kelsey held back her incredulous snicker, but let a smirk tug at her lips.

The demon just stared at him, her glare never faltering and Dean dropped his smirk after a few seconds, turning completely serious. "I don't know. It wasn't my doing; I don't know who pulled me out."

"Right, you don't." She crossed her arms, giving him a look that said that she didn't believe him one bit.

"No, I don't." he said, his eyes darkening, the same way his mood was.

"Lying's a sin, you know."

Kelsey's lips twisted wryly, blurting out before she could stop herself, "You would know all about that, wouldn't you?"

The demon turned to face her, her eyes turning dangerously black, but Kelsey's expression never changed. "I would watch your mouth, little girl."

"Or you'll what?"

"Kelsey," Sam warned his voice low.

She shook her head, something told her that the demon couldn't do anything to them, otherwise why sit and chat with them? They wanted info, and, something occurred to her that baffled her completely.

They were scared, they all were.

None of them knew who the big wig who pulled Dean out is or what he is, and how powerful. They didn't know what they were dealing with and so they were resorting to dealing with their sworn enemies to gather information.

"It's fine, Sam."

Kelsey leaned forward, placing her chin in her hand, thoughtfully. "What do you expect to learn from us? You really think we would tell you something useful?"

The demon's eyes flashed again and she smiled cruelly at Kelsey, but her face never wavered. Kelsey only looked at her, her face expressionless and purely impassive.

The demon glanced at Dean, "You should watch your tone, little girl, or I'll drag _pretty boy_ here back to Hell myself."

Kelsey smiled then and shook her head, "No, you won't."

The demon's mouth twitched in dark humor, "No?"

She blinked, and glanced at Dean, "No, if you could, you would have done it already."

Dean caught on quickly and gave the demon a thoughtful look, "Fact is, you don't know who cut me loose. You're just as spooked as we are. And you're looking for answers." The waitress/demon glanced at Kelsey and frowned deeply.

"Well, maybe it was some turbo-charged spirit, hmm? Or, uh, Godzilla?" He gave her a look, "Or some big, bad, boss demon. Or my guess is that it's not in your pay grade and they don't tell you squat . . .'cause whoever it was, they want me out and they're a lot stronger than you." He waited for her to say something but when she didn't, he smirked mockingly.

"So, go ahead. Send me back, but don't come crawling to me when they show up on your front doorstep with gasoline and a fire hose." He threw her a smug look.

The demon sat there quietly and calmly said, "I'm going to reach down your throat and rip out your lungs."

Dean smiled a bit and leaned forward, his smile thoughtful. Then out of nowhere his hand came forward and slapped his hand across her borrowed cheek. When her head whipped back with a loud snap, he slapped her again harshly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Dean said when she still hadn't made a move to reciprocate.

"Let's go Sam, Kelsey." They all stood up, keeping their eyes on the demon as they made their way to the door. Dean paused and pulled out a folded stack of bills, taking a ten and setting it down on the table. "For the pie," he informed her and shoved the rest back into his pocket.

Once they were outside in the sunlight, Dean took a deep and heavy breath, "Hol-_y_ crap . . . that was close." He drawled as they crossed the street.

Kelsey raised her eyebrows at him and Dean narrowed his eyes, "And you . . . what were you thinking mouthing off to a demon like that? You could've gotten yourself killed!" He scolded.

She blinked and then spoke with an amused tint to her voice, "I happen to remember you slapping her across the face . . . twice. Shouldn't you be asking yourself that question?"

Dean frowned and shook his head, "Yeah, but I can handle myself. I've been doing this since I was a kid; you only just got thrown into this world and don't have much experience."

Kelsey almost stomped her foot, but knew that would only achieve her dirty looks and then, they would start saying she really was just a kid. Kelsey took a few deep breaths before starting in, "Dean, I am not a child. You cannot coddle me. Yes, I may be lacking experience working in the field, but I'm pretty smart, and give me some credit. I can take care of myself, sure, but I'm not afraid of asking for help if I need it."

She softened her voice and looked up into his green eyes, letting her lips curve up just slightly. "Stop worrying so much about me. There's so much going on right now, I don't want something bad to happen, just 'cause you were too busy making sure I was okay. I _can_ handle myself."

Dean huffed, but before he could retort, Sam stepped in. "We're just gonna leave them in there, are we Dean?" Dean looked up into his brother's face and frowned; Sam looked agitated and was done waiting for him and Kelsey to finish their conversation. He couldn't believe his brother had been so stupid, and ballsy.

"Yeah," he glanced back at the diner, "There's three of them, probably more. We only got one knife between us."

"Yeah, well I've been getting rid of more demons than that lately."

Dean raised his brows as they kept walking, "Well, not anymore. The smarter brother's back in town."

Sam turned to Kelsey for help and she frowned. "I don't know, Sam. Even for you guys. Three demons is a lot to handle." She tapped her chin in thought. "What happened to the Colt again?" she asked, straining to remember the last time it was mentioned.

Dean scratched the back of his head, and then snapped his fingers. "Bela took it and gave it to Lilith."

Kelsey nodded and frowned again. Sam turned back to Dean, realizing Kelsey wasn't going to help him. "Dean, we've gotta take 'em out. They're dangerous!"

"They're scared," Dean argued, "Okay? Scared of whatever had the juice to yank me out. We're dealing with a _bad mofo_ here." He gave Sam a hard and meaningful look. "One job at a time."

Once they got back to the motel, they decided research was a good idea, and only Sam seemed uninterested. Dean grabbed a random book and started reading through it as Kelsey settled in front of a stack of three books. She looked up to see Sam slightly pacing through the short length of the room, his hands raking through his hair.

"You okay, Sam?" He seemed really antsy, and she wondered what could've been on his mind.

"Uh huh," he paused, "I think I'm gonna get some air, maybe go for a long walk." He nodded, grabbing the keys from the table and then started heading for the door.

"Got your phone? Your gun?" Dean called from the bed, not really looking up from the book that was perched on his lap as he leaned against the headboard.

"Got it," Sam confirmed. Before he walked out, Kelsey jumped up from her chair.

"Hey, Sam is it okay if I use your laptop for research?" She gave him her best puppy-dog eyes complete with the pouty lower lip. She was hoping that it would work on him, considering she got her moves from watching him do it on the show.

Sam looked a little uncomfortable, but eventually he nodded, "Okay. Just don't let Dean touch it?" He asked, and Kelsey nodded in understanding.

"Aye, aye!" she told him, with a mock-salute that he didn't see as he let the door slam behind him in his haste to get out of the room.

"Well, he was in a hurry to leave." Dean said, but his eyes were on the book in his hands as he frowned.

"Yeah, weird, huh? 'Geek Boy' bails when the research starts." She half-joked, but she didn't laugh, she had a distinct feeling that Sam was up to no good—especially since he'd said he was going for a walk and then taken Dean's car keys.

_Wonder if Dean even noticed_, she thought, glancing over at him out of the corner of her eyes. Seeing the way he was frowning down at the book, flipping through the pages slowly, she guessed not.

Kelsey sighed and went over to his laptop, booting it up, humming and tapping her fingers to a beat she couldn't get out of her head.

Dean glanced up at her, when she didn't stop humming or drumming her fingers after a few moments. She seemed concentrated on something that no one else could see. He licked his bottom lip as he thought about where he recognized the song from.

"Are you humming Zeppelin?" he asked, looking at her as she suddenly stopped humming and her fingers froze on the table.

She blushed and nodded shortly, "Yeah, that's it. I've got it stuck in my head. I can't remember what song it is though." She said, her brows pinching together as she thought.

Dean smiled, "Rock And Roll."

She sat up in her seat and grinned, "Yes! That's it, oh my God, that was really bothering me." She paused, "Thanks."

"No problem." He smirked and shook his head, going back to his book and focused on trying to make sense of the ancient script as his vision started getting blurry and his eyelids became heavy.

* * *

><p>Kelsey glanced at Dean again and smiled, it had taken less than ten minutes for him to fall asleep. It was about time he'd gotten some. It'd been over twenty-four hours since he'd risen from his grave and this was the first time he'd fallen asleep or even had time to think about it.<p>

She chuckled quietly and returned to Sam's laptop. She pursed her lips, she'd found a lead but wasn't quite sure what to think of it. Kelsey didn't want to wake up Dean, so she saved the site and started googling different things about dreams and nightmares.

She had actually typed in a number of things from, 'waking dreams' to 'living nightmares'. Of course, she hadn't really found anything helpful.

When she had been sitting there for a few minutes reading about an old woman, who came to her senses and realized that she had a sleeping disorder, the TV turned on suddenly to static and the radio followed shortly after that.

Kelsey frowned at it, and shook her head, hurrying over to shut it off before it woke Dean. She sat there and tried to turn it off but it wouldn't. She even tried unplugging it, but it didn't do much. She recognized the low humming and the high-pitched ringing as it started growing louder. They were small whispers in her head, and for a minute she thought she heard a man speaking to her. Trying to tell her something, but it was fuzzy, like the reception wasn't good. Shaking her head, confused, she pushed her palm to her forehead as the voice grew louder in her head, but not much clearer.

Dean's eyes fluttered open shortly after Kelsey had walked over and he was watching as she bent over the TV, trying to unplug it. He rubbed his eyes a few times and he had a growing smirk on his face, until he realized what was going on.

He threw his book to the side and rolled off the bed, swiftly grabbing the sawed-off that was perched against it. He glanced around for the threat, and pointed the shotgun at the front door as he simultaneously pulled Kelsey behind him.

"Dean," she called to him, "It's happening again. We gotta get outta here."

"I know!" he shouted over the quickly-growing ringing. He winced and used his free hand to cover his ear as Kelsey did the same, holding onto Dean's shirt with her other hand. She cried out and fell away from him, wiping at her ears, and when she looked at her fingers, they were drenched with her blood.

As the noise grew louder, and harder to bear, Dean heard a cracking, looking up to see the mirrored ceiling starting to break.

He groaned in pain and turned back towards the door, still holding out his shot gun, but as the pain started to become too much, he dropped the shotgun and held his ears, yelling.

He dropped to his knees as the windows started exploding, sending glass shards everywhere. Kelsey's mind felt like mush as she tried concentrating on what was happening around her, but the unclear voice in her head, seemed to grow anxious, his voice booming through her mind, sending her crashing to the ground in agony. Her hands were clasped tightly to her ears, trying to block out the pain. She gritted her teeth, looking upwards and noticed the ceiling looked as if it was going to fall apart any second.

"Dean!" she screamed as he stopped and looked up as the ceiling started shattering above their heads. He fell over her, tucking her underneath him, trying to protect her as his arm caught in the crushed glass and started bleeding.

He cried out loudly, through the blinding pain in his head as Bobby rushed through the door finding Dean and Kelsey lying on the floor as the mirror fragments fell in panels from the ceiling.

"Dean!" he yelled and picked them up off the ground, practically shoving them out the door as the mirrors finally fell exactly where Dean and Kelsey had been not a moment before.

Kelsey came out of the painful haze she'd fallen into, the voice fading quickly, and helped Bobby get Dean out of the hotel. When they got him in the car, and she climbed into the back, she finally let her eyes close and let the darkness take her.

* * *

><p>"How you doin' kid?" Bobby asked him when he came to. Dean looked around dazedly, and started wiping the blood from his ears. Dean just shook his head and gave a worried glance at the unconscious Kelsey in the back seat, "Aside from the church bells ringin' in my head, peachy. How is she?"<p>

Bobby glanced in the rearview mirror and sighed, "She was doin' fine. Probably just needs some rest. You both do."

Dean nodded, his thoughts already on Sam, and he pulled out his phone, quickly dialing. "What are you doin'?"

"_Got hungry, went to get a burger_."

"With my car? I thought you went for a walk?"

"_Force of habit, sorry . . . What are you doin' up?_"

Dean glanced at Bobby, "Oh, well, Bobby's back. I, he and Kelsey are goin' to get a beer."

Bobby gave Dean a curious glance, and he just put his finger to his mouth in 'hush' gesture.

"_Well, spill some for me_."

"Done, catch you later."

Dean shut his phone and gave Bobby a look. Before he could say anything, Kelsey leaned forward and smacked Dean's shoulder.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"Secrets are never good, Dean. It's bad enough all the secrets goin' on between you already, you shouldn't be adding _more_ fuel to the fire." She told him quietly, holding her aching head.

"Well, look who's up?" Dean said sarcastically, glaring at her as he rubbed his shoulder. Bobby just shook his head, and was that a hint of a smile she saw?

"Why the hell didn't you just tell him?"

"He'd probably just try and stop us." Dean explained vaguely.

"Do I want to know what we're going to be doing? Or can I just stay blissfully unaware on this one?" She asked, her brows pinching together and her mouth puffed up a little, like she was tired.

Dean gave her an exasperated look, "I can't risk leaving you behind, so you have to come with us." He turned back to Bobby, as he had a curious look on his face.

"We're gonna summon this thing."

"Oh shit," Kelsey muttered, "Here we go." She started frowning. What was it, the first episode? Wasn't it illegal or something to kill off main characters in the first episode of the season—oh wait, Dean and Sam's dad died in the first episode of season two—_awesome_, she almost wished she didn't have any idea of their past. Maybe she wouldn't be biting her nails, hoping she doesn't get killed off at any moment.

". . . Are you serious?"

"As a heart attack."

"We don't know what it is . . . it could be anything."

Kelsey cleared her throat, her thoughts on that website she'd found. "Actually . . ."

She paused, grimacing a bit, when both men looked at her. Dean literally turned around in his seat to glare at her, and Bobby just glanced back and forth at her from the road and into the rearview mirror. Clearing her throat again, she spoke clearly.

"Well, I was doing some research and I came across this legend or something. Turns out it was about something being able to pull souls from Hell."

"Why didn't you say something?" Dean asked, his voice irritated.

Kelsey looked at him, "You were sleeping; I didn't want to wake you up. Plus, it's not exactly like I got the chance once you did wake up."

"What is it?" Bobby asked, finally.

Kelsey looked down at the hole in the knee of her jeans and started tweaking with the loose thread. "Actually, I'm not sure what to believe. The last time you guys thought it was this, it turned out to be a ghost who thought he was the real thing."

Dean sat back in his seat, a scowl on his face. He had an inkling what she was going on about and he didn't believe it for a second.

"Out with it, girl." Bobby encouraged, trying not to sound impatient.

She sighed and looked up at him through the mirror, "It was an angel. The legend says that only angels have enough power to pull a man from Hell, and honestly? It's all we've got to go on."

"No freakin' way." Dean said.

"Dean—"

"Sweetheart, he ain't gonna listen to no one until he sees it with his own two eyes. Don't go wastin' your breath." Bobby sighed and squinted out at the road, his face pensive and thoughtful.

"Do you believe me, Bobby?"

He glanced at her, and then looked back out at the road, frowning. "Honestly, I don't know what to believe anymore. I think that if we're gonna summon this thing, we gotta prepare ourselves for the worst." He paused and then shook his head slowly at Dean, "This is a bad idea."

"We got no choice."

"We can choose life." Bobby argued, incredulous.

Kelsey nodded and looked out the window, choosing to ignore the rest of their conversation. She was thinking about how this was going to all go down. She sincerely hoped no one would die that night.

* * *

><p>Sam looked up from where he sat in the Impala and decided it was now or never. He got out of the car and crossed the street into Johnny Mac's diner. He pulled out his lock pick and had the door open in less than ten seconds.<p>

Moving quietly, he slowly opened the door and made his way inside. It was deadly quiet as Sam put away the lock pick and looked around the empty diner. Looking down, he gave a puzzled and defeated look as he found a body of a large man lying face down on the floor behind the counter.

Taking careful steps, he tried to get a closer look and saw that he was lying in a small puddle of blood. Sam slowly flipped his lifeless body over and tilted his head to the side looking at him. The man's eyes were missing. They were burned out like Pamela's had been, with blood dripping down his face and onto the floor.  
>Sam heard something to his right and looked up as a dark figure lunged at him and tackled him to the ground, knocking over chairs and breaking tables as he went. As the figure paused, Sam got a good look and recognized it as the demon waitress from earlier that day.<p>

She hit him once, twice, and just kept swinging. Each time, Sam became a little more angry as his head snapped to the left then the right and then the left again as she continued to hit him.

He finally caught her off guard and head-butted her three times before throwing her off him. He jumped to his feet, and bent her over as he kicked her in the stomach repeatedly. She ripped away from his grip and Sam held his fists up getting ready for round two.

He paused when he saw that her eyes had been burned out of her skull, like Pam's and the man he had found. He was curious as to what had happened.

She stood there panting heavily, with a pained look on her face, even as blood trailed down her cheeks. "Your eyes," his voice was scratchy, from breathing heavily.

She nodded awkwardly, "I can still smell your soul a mile away," she said, lifting her fists uncoordinatedly.

"It was here; you saw it." He stated.

She started sobbing, her face looking pained once more, and confirmed his statement, "I saw it."

"What was it?"

"It's the end; we're dead, we're _all dead_."

"What did you see?" He asked, his tone darkening.

"Go to hell," she laughed without humor and Sam just looked at her. His shoulders heaving as he took deep breaths and gave her a dangerous look, as if he were preparing for something.

"Funny, I was gonna say the same thing to you." he commented and held out his palm towards her, his eyes closing and his face contorting as he fought to concentrate.

She started gagging as if whatever Sam was doing was making her physically sick, or something was ripping out her demon essence through her mouth. Black smoke poured from her mouth, little puffs at a time; until it flowed more quickly the longer he concentrated.

She held her throat as more demon smoke spilled out and made choking noises until it brought her to her knees. Tendrils of the smoke had been collecting around her and when she fell backwards, it disappeared slowly into the ground and Sam lowered his hand.

He took a few deep breaths and sighed. He checked her pulse, but when he found there was none, he cursed. The door to the back opened and a dark-haired girl walked out, smiling like she was proud.

Sam looked up at her, and frowned.

"Gettin' pretty slick there, Sam, and gettin' better all the time," She said.

Sam slowly stood up and faced the girl from his hotel room earlier. "What the hell is going on here, Ruby?"

She looked down at the body of the waitress and shook her head sadly, "I wish I knew."

Sam nodded, "We were thinking some high-level demon pulled Dean out."

Ruby looked up at him and smirked, "No way. Sam, human souls don't just walk out of Hell and back into their bodies, easy. This guy bleeds, the ground quakes. It's cosmic. No demon can swing that. Not Lilith, not _anybody_."

Sam gave her a grim look, "Then what can?"

"Nothing I've ever seen before."

* * *

><p>Bobby sprayed the white paint onto the ground and hoped it resembled the symbol close enough. He'd covered the entire inside of the abandoned barn they'd found with symbols from every religion and belief and legend for everything they've ever heard of.<p>

Dean stood at the table and was laying out weapons, taking stock of them, "Hell of an art project you got goin' there." He said to Bobby.

She pointed to one that resembled what she thought was a devil's trap, "Aren't these defense against anything and everything you guys have ever come across?"

Bobby gave her a nod, "At least some one knows their stuff." He turned to Dean, "Talismans from every faith on the globe . . . How are you doin'?"

Dean pointed out each weapon as he told Bobby, "Stakes, iron . . ."

Kelsey blocked their voices out and peeked out the window that was near her. She looked up to the sky and the white crescent moon and closed her eyes. She hadn't prayed in what seemed like forever, but now seemed like a good time.

_So, I know I haven't spoken to you in a long time. I'm sorry for that. I want to thank you for the years I've had with my family. I know what it's like in this world and that my chances for survival tonight are nil. But, I . . . don't really belong here, do I?_—

"Kelsey!" She jumped and turned towards a frustrated Dean.

"Huh? What?" she asked, looking at him, her brows raised questioningly.

"We're about to start the summoning. Get behind me."

She narrowed her eyes at his commanding tone, "Give me a gun," she countered, reasonably.

"No."

"Then no."

He groaned, "Don't be difficult!"

"I know my way around a gun. I need to be able to protect myself, don't I? You're not gonna have time to make sure I'm alright. Now, just give me the fucking gun!" she yelled at him.

His eyes widened and he just stared at her. She looked around and tucked her hair behind her ear as she visibly calmed. She took deep breaths and shook her head, "Sorry, got a little carried away there."

Bobby nodded at her, "S'okay, I think everyone's nerves are shot."

She nodded and mumbled, "Sorry."

Dean looked at her and crossed his arms.

She sighed, "Just give me the gun, Dean."

"No, how do I know if you've even ever touched one before?" he asked, his brow rose skeptically and she smiled.

She asked and reached her hand out, snatching up a .45 and checked the clip thoughtfully before replacing it. She held the gun firmly in her hands as she released the safety and aimed towards one of the symbols that almost looked like a target. She pulled the trigger once, twice and then lowered the gun.

He snorted, "Fine, whatever. How'd you learn to use a gun, anyway?"

She put the safety back on, "My grandfather was an ex-marine. He had a big collection of guns and took me to the shooting range every chance he got. Told me I might need to know how to defend myself one day. I'm thinking he was right."

Dean pursed his lips, "Yeah."

"So, we good now? Can Bobby get on with the show?"

Dean nodded shortly and returned to his spot near the table as Bobby performed the ritual. He took a handful of something and sprinkled it into the dish on the table and began chanting in Latin.

When he was done, they waited in apprehension for a few minutes, but nothing happened. Kelsey hopped up onto the table and started swinging her legs. It wasn't long until the two men followed her example as they waited in vain.

Dean twisted Ruby's knife into the table and sighed, "You sure you did the ritual right?"

Bobby gave Dean an insulted glance and Dean nodded, realizing he'd stepped on some toes, "Sorry. Touchy touchy, huh?"

Suddenly there was banging and loud crashing sounds coming from outside on the roof and Dean and Bobby jumped up, expecting the worst.

"It's here," Kelsey muttered in a sing-song voice.

The shingles on the roof were lifting up and down, like the wind was so strong that they couldn't be held down. Kelsey jumped down, almost falling, but catching herself as she landed in a crouch. Slowly pulling herself back up, she kept the gun aimed down at the ground, while she looked around curiously. She really hoped that she was right, and that it was an angel that pulled Dean from Hell, because otherwise they were probably toast.

"Wishful thinking, but maybe it's just the wind."

Kelsey snorted without humor, "When is it ever, 'just the wind'?"

Suddenly the lights above their heads went out as the bulbs exploded and sparked. Dean and Bobby ducked and hugged their guns close to them as the front door to the barn slowly pulled themselves open to reveal a tall man in a business suit and trench coat.

He walked towards them with an impassive face as Dean and Bobby shot freely at his chest and emptied rounds that didn't seem to bother him.

Kelsey didn't even think of making a move, because a) she didn't want to and b) because she had a feeling it wouldn't have done any good.

When Bobby and Dean realized that the bullets weren't working they exchanged glances and dropped their guns. Dean picked up Ruby's knife as the man approached Dean with a pensive, almost friendly, watered-down expression on his face. "Who are you?" Dean asked.

The man nodded his head once, "I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition."

"Yeah, thanks for that."

The man nodded and Kelsey saw what Dean was about to do, she took a step forward, "Dean, no!"

He lunged at the man in the trench coat and plunged Ruby's knife into his chest with a grunt. The man just looked down at him and then the knife before pulling it out, and letting it drop to the ground.

Dean glanced at Bobby in horror, and Bobby raised his arms to hit the man in the back of the head with iron pipe in his hands, but the man turned towards him, grabbed the pipe and placed two fingers to his temple, making him fall to the ground in a heap.

He turned back to him, and just Dean looked at him with wide, fearful eyes, "We need to talk, Dean."

Kelsey blinked a few times and then carefully set the gun down on the table. When the man turned to her, she grimaced.

". . . You as well."

She stuttered in surprise, "W-what? Why me?"

"Because, you're part of this now. You are part of the reason that Dean was pulled from perdition a month prior to what had been foretold. He was saved from torturing souls and that serves a great purpose for which I hope you will _never_ have to know."

Dean took this time to kneel down by Bobby and check his pulse, "Your friend's alive." The man assured.

Dean looked up at him, with hatred in his eyes and Kelsey couldn't blame him but, still it was obvious the man had the upper hand and they didn't. Couldn't Dean just watch his mouth for once?

"Who are you?"

"Castiel." The man said simply.

Dean glared at him, Yeah, I figured that much, I meant what are you."

"I am an Angel of the Lord."

Kelsey blinked again and opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again. She wasn't sure what to say. _I told you so_, sounded just wrong.

Dean glanced at Kelsey and then stood up, "Get the hell outta here, there's no such thing."

"Yes, there is." Kelsey whispered.

Castiel glanced back at her, "You should listen to Kelsey, Dean. She is correct. This is your problem Dean—you have no faith."

Lightning seemed to strike inside the barn and there were two giant black shadows in the shape of angel wings taking up the expanse of the entire barn.

Dean seemed to be shocked, but he quickly masked what he was feeling and put on blank expression, "Some Angel you are. You burned out that poor woman's eyes."

Castiel looked down sadly, "I warned her not to spy on my true form. It can be overwhelming to humans. So can my real voice, but you already knew that."

Dean gave him a puzzled look, and Kelsey's eyes widened. "That was you at the gas station and the motel. You were trying to speak with us?"

Castiel nodded.

Dean raised his eyebrows, "That was you talking? Buddy, next time lower the volume."

Castiel nodded again and lowered his eyes, "It was my mistake; certain people can perceive my true visage. I thought you would be one of them. I was wrong."

" . . . That was you? You were the one in my head?" Kelsey's voice was lower than a whisper, but Castiel seemed to hear her, and his eyes caught hers.

"Yes, you were able to hear me?"

Kelsey avoided Dean's eyes, and answered the Angel's question, "Yes, but it caused me pain, and wasn't very clear."

Castiel nodded, "Sometimes—"

Dean interrupted him, trying to get his attention away from Kelsey, still having a hard time trusting him, "and what visage are you in now, huh? Holy tax accountant?"

Castiel raised his eyebrows, and looked down at himself, "This-this is a vessel."

"You're possessing some poor bastard?"

"He's a devout man; he actually prayed for this."

"Look, pal. I'm not buying what you're selling, so who are you really?"

"Dean, I think he's telling the truth. I can . . . I felt a presence when I woke up next to your grave. A strong, but safe presence. I can feel it now too."

"Who are you?" Dean repeated, ignoring her completely.

Castiel turned towards him, "I told you."

"Right, why would an angel rescue me from Hell?" Dean spat.

Castiel stepped forward towards him, "Good things do happen Dean."

"Not in my experience." He said quietly, and gave a quick worried glance towards Kelsey. She was crouching down my Bobby, holding his head in her lap.

"What's the matter?" Castiel tilted his head and studied Dean curiously, "You don't think you deserve to be saved . . . ?"

Dean lowered his chin, and looked him in the eye. "Why'd you do it? And why bring her into this?" He nodded at Kelsey, without looking at her.

"Because God commanded it. Because we have work for you, both of you."


	10. Reason For Everything

Chapter 10

Reason For Everything

Bobby glanced at Kelsey and gave her a knowing look as they heard Dean and Sam arguing about whether or not Castiel was really an angel.

"You wanna show me that site you found on angels?" Bobby asked, and she nodded with a slight smile.

She leaned forward in her seat on the couch and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stop a headache she felt coming on. "Yeah, yeah sure. I have it saved on Sam's computer. Let me just go get it?"

Bobby just nodded in reply, not looking up again from the giant old book he was looking at. She sighed and regretfully approached the kitchen, wincing as their voices grew louder.

" . . . I was not groped by an angel!"

"Okay, look Dean, why do you think this Castiel would lie to you about it?"

"Maybe he's some kind of demon . . . demon's lie!"

Sam nodded sarcastically, "A demon who's immune to salt rounds and devil's traps and Ruby's knife?" He leaned forward in his seat, staring the older sibling down, "Dude, _Lilith_ is scared of that thing!"

Dean was eyeing the pizza box, most likely thinking about eating some more, as he picked up a slice, sniffed it and then tossed it back down. Kelsey rolled her eyes, fighting a smile as she leaned against the doorway.

The man was a bottomless pit.

He leaned back against the counter and looked at Sam. "Don't you think that if angels were real, that some hunter somewhere would have seen one? At some point, ever?"

Sam nodded slowly, "Yeah, you just did, Dean."

"I'm trying to come up with a theory here, okay work with me!"

Kelsey crossed her arms and shifted against the doorway, waiting for a pause in their argument. She hated interrupting, and something told her she'd get her head chewed off if she did.

"Dean, we _have_ a theory."

"Yeah, one with a little less fairy dust on it please."

"Okay, look I'm not saying we know for sure, I'm just saying that we—"

"Okay, okay that's the point. We don't know for sure. So I'm not gonna believe this thing is a fucking angel of the lord, because it says so!"

Kelsey's eyebrows raised and she finally decided to cut in before Dean blew a blood vessel. That's how red his face was getting from all the shouting that had been going on in the kitchen.

"Hey, uh, Sam. You think I could borrow your laptop?"

Both brothers looked up at her standing in the doorway and frowned simultaneously. Eventually, Sam nodded and pulled it out of its case and handed it to her.

"Thanks." She said and smiled, her eyes lowered as she backed out of the kitchen before she could be sucked into the argument.

She opened it up as she walked over to the couch again and pulled up the site she'd saved. Scrolling down to the excerpt that held the most information, she showed the screen to Bobby.

"I'll be damned. Fits the description to a T." He glanced up at her and grinned, "You just might have a future in research, darlin'." Kelsey rolled her eyes and smiled back at him as he caught the brother's attention. She sat back on the couch and scrolled through some more of the info on angels as they walked into the den.

"I got stacks of lore. Biblical, pre-biblical. It all says an angel can snatch a soul from the pit; just like what she found on that site."

Sam frowned, crossing his arms, "What site?"

Kelsey looked up and turned the computer around again, showing them the picture of an angel reaching out his hand to a man in Hell. "This site."

Sam moved to sit down next to her, and pulled the laptop from her lap, scrolling through the site himself. Kelsey shrugged and sat back into the couch, her legs criss-crossed.

"What else?" Dean asked, his hand reaching for his shoulder with the burn mark on it, feeling a phantom ache. Kelsey noticed the small action, and wondered f he even realized he was doing it, but didn't say anything aloud, and turned her eyes back to Bobby.

He looked up at Dean and frowned, "What else what?"

"What else can they do?"

"Besides air lift your ass out of the hot box, as far as I can tell nothin'." He sat back in his seat and folded his hands on his stomach, looking up at Dean.

"Dean, this is a good thing." Sam assured him, from the couch, looking up from the computer to glare at his brother.

"How?" the arrogance in Dean's voice was nearly tangible, and Kelsey could've sworn she saw both Sam and Bobby roll their eyes.

"Because, for once, this isn't just another round of demon crap. I mean maybe you were saved by one of the _good guys_, y'know?"

Kelsey watched Dean nod quickly, his eyes narrowed dubiously. "Okay, let's say that it's true. Say there are angels, then what—there's a God?"

Bobby raised his brows, "This point, Vegas money's on yeah."

Dean laughed without humor and turned away, starting to pace the small length of the study, "I don't know, guys."

Sam's frown deepened and then he shut the laptop, as Kelsey got up and stood next to Bobby's desk. "Okay, look I know you're not all choir boy with this. But this is becoming less and less about faith—and more about proof."

Dean stopped pacing and faced Sam, his eyebrow flying. "Proof?"

"Yes."

Dean's face contorted into a mask of doubt and incredulity. "Proof that there's a God that actually gives a crap about me, personally? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it!" Dean shook his head at them, his eyes looking almost wild.

"Why not?" Sam asked.

"Because why me? If there is a God out there, why would he give a crap about me?"

"Dean," Kelsey chastised softly, looking at him closely, his eyes glancing at hers briefly, before darting away.

"I mean I've saved some people, okay? I figured that made up for the stealing, and the-the ditching chicks. But why did I get saved? I'm just a regular guy!" Kelsey watched Dean getting worked up, and all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around him and hug him within an inch of his life, but she knew he wouldn't appreciate it, so she held back her urge.

But, she did place her hand in his, acting as if she hadn't done anything, trying not to drag attention to it, but letting him know she was there for him. He looked over at her, and smiled inwardly, giving her hand in his a squeeze, thanking her silently.

Sam huffed, "Okay so you're a regular guy that's important to the man upstairs."

Dean got a strange look on his face, "Well, that creeps me out." Kelsey cracked half a smile at that and shook her head. "I mean, I don't like getting singled out at birthday parties, much less by . . . _God_."

Sam crossed his arms and gave his older brother a too-bad-so-sad look. "Well, too bad Dean. Because I think God wants you to strap on your party hat."

Dean looked at Kelsey and she gave him a small, encouraging smile, which he reluctantly returned, before turning to Bobby. He cleared his throat, "Fine, what do we know about angels?"

Bobby gave him a glare and then brought forth a large stack of thick and dusty books. "Start readin'."

Dean made a face and then turned to Sam, pointing his finger indignantly, "You're gonna get me some pie!"

He gently released Kelsey's hand and slapped his down on a book from the top of the stack and yanked it away, marching off to the kitchen.

Kelsey gave Bobby and Sam a grin before picking up the next book in the stack and settling back in on the couch.

* * *

><p>About ten minutes after Sam had left to pick up the pie, Dean decided he also wanted some chips, and picked up the phone to let him know.<p>

"_Yes, Dean, I'll get the chips."_

Dean turned to Kelsey, his brows raised, "You want anything?"

She looked up from her spot at the table, having migrated after Bobby had retreated out back for 'quiet time'. She took that to mean, he wanted to work on his car and not be bothered. When Dean had complained about him not helping out with research, he was awarded with a scowl, and a remark about how he'd done his part, giving them the books. With that, he'd turned and left, leaving behind a laughing Kelsey and a stunned-silent Dean.

"Eh, not really. Thanks, though." She smiled and looked back down at the book in her hands.

Dean couldn't help the small, goofy smile that slid onto his face as he watched Kelsey, but he remembered Sam on the phone and quickly rearranged his features as if the younger Winchester could see him through the phone. "Don't you _dare_ forget the pie, Sammy."

Dean could hear Sam scoff as he turned the Impala's engine off.

"_Dude, when have I ever forgotten the pie?_"

Dean tilted his head side to side as he thought about it and finally nodded, "You haven't."

"_Exactly . . . I gotta go._"

"Alright. See ya."

"_Yeah, bye._" Dean frowned into the phone when Sam hung up. He shook his head and snapped his phone shut, before pocketing it.

"Something wrong?" Kelsey asked from the table, not looking up from her book.

Dean sighed, and sat back down at the table across from her and shook his head. "No, why'd you ask?"

She finally looked up and smirked, "Because you have this whole pouty-broody thing going now, and it makes me think that something Sam said or did over the phone has you upset. So . . . spill."

Dean narrowed his eyes at her, "You seem to know me pretty well."

She tilted her head to the side, "Don't change the subject Dean, we're talking about you, or rather what Sam did. Tell me what's wrong?"

Dean cleared his throat and rubbed his hand over his face as he leaned forward, his elbow on the table. "Something's different about Sam, can you see it too?"

Kelsey folded her arms over the open book and leaned on them. She nodded slowly, "Yeah, I have."

Dean huffed out a breath and closed his eyes, "I don't know what to do," he almost whispered.

Kelsey reached out and squeezed his hand that was resting on the table. His eyes opened at her touch, and met her worried gaze and he flipped his hand over and grasped her hand in his. "I'm not sure you can, right now. You both know that you're keeping things from the other, but Sam knows that your secrets are off-limits and he's more or less made peace with it. The question is . . . can you do the same for Sam?"

Dean looked at the girl sitting in front of him and frowned, his brows coming down over his eyes as he thought about what she said. "I-I don't know."

Kelsey nodded and pulled her hand away from his as she sat back in her seat. "Just think about it, okay?"

He nodded and watched her as she went back to flipping through the old book in front of her, and realized that his hand felt strange without her hand in his.

Kelsey looked up sharply when the phone went off and Dean didn't look up. She nudged his boot with her own.

"Dean."

"Dean!" she repeated when he didn't answer.

"DEAN!"

His head snapped in her direction, his eyes narrowed, "What's with the shouting, Blondie?"

She scowled at him, muttering about men and selective hearing.

"What was that?"

"The phone's ringing Dean; don't you think you should answer it?"

"Bobby will." He said and went back to his book. She groaned and nudged his foot with her own again, "Dean, Bobby's outside and probably can't hear the phone ringing!"

He didn't look up again, but responded with, "Then you get it."

She sighed heavily as she stood and walked over to the phone, "I'm not your slave, Dean."

"Would you like to be?" he asked his face lighting up with the trademark smirk as he looked up at her slowly.

She didn't bother to grace that comment with an answer so, she just rolled her eyes and picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"_Hi, I'm calling to inform you that you've won a Mediterranean cruise for four!"_

Kelsey leaned forward over the counter and rested her chin in her hand as she rested her torso on the counter. "What's your name?"

"_Uh, um . . . Julie._"

Kelsey nodded, "Uh huh, so how's your day been so far, Julie?"

Hearing Kelsey, Dean furrowed his brows as he looked up. He blinked a few times, forcibly steeling himself from getting up to stand behind her and grab her ass. He bit back a groan as she shifted her weight to her other foot, her hips swaying to the side. He pulled his bottom lip into his mouth and chewed on it, as he watched her play with her hair, unaware that she was giving him a show.

"Oh, wow. Your boss sounds like a jerk. How long have you been working there?"

"_About ten years." _Julie replied sadly.

Kelsey shook her head, "Well, if I had a boss like him, I'd report him and tell him to stick it where the sun don't shine."

"_I know I should, but I've got kids to put through school and I don't know if I could find another job so quickly._"

"Okay, well look for a job now. And then when you find one, quit and rub it in that jerk-off's face." There was laughter on the other side of the phone, and then, "_What's your name sweetie?_"

Kelsey smiled, "It's Kelsey, ma'am."

"_Well, Kelsey. You just brightened my day. This your number?_"

Kelsey grinned and shook her head as if Julie could see her. "No, this is a friend's of mine. But, I guess for now it's a good way to reach me."

"_Well, if you ever want to talk, I've got nothing better to do than just sit in a cubby all day long._"

Kelsey laughed, her finger curling around the phone cord absently. "Oh, I might just take you up on that offer." Julie gave Kelsey her number and made her promise to call the next time she could.

When Kelsey finally did hang up, she had a huge smile on her face, which made Dean suspicious.

Dean raised his brows,"Who was it?"

She raised her brows and shrugged. "She said her name was Julie. She called to say Bobby won a cruise."

"She was a telemarketer?"

Kelsey moved back over to the table and sat back down, her eyes scanning over the page she'd left open. "Uh huh."

Dean looked up from his book, smirking, "You made friends with a telemarketer named Julie?"

Kelsey looked at him strangely, "Yeah, you meet the nicest people . . ."

"Seriously? You do this a lot?"

Kelsey looked up at him, smiling, and raised her eyebrows, "Seriously. It's not like they have fun hearing people yelling at them to shut the fudge up every day for doing their job." Kelsey shrugged.

Dean nodded sarcastically and she rolled her eyes, turning back to her book. She started tapping her foot and humming softly under her breath, frowning down at the book as the words began to blue together.

"What song are you humming?" Dean asked, his focus broke by the notes she was humming under breath.

Kelsey bit her lip, and smiled, shaking her head. "Nothing."

Ginuwine's "My Pony" was stuck in Kelsey's head and it wouldn't be too long before her cheeks were bright red the longer she hummed it.

"Why does it sound so familiar?" He asked, his brows rose as he looked at the wall, thinking.

"I doubt that you know it." Her eyes widened when he nodded, a smirk playing on his lips as he obviously recognized the song.

He shook his head, his eyes sparkling deviously, "It was popular when I was in high school. Ginuwine, huh?"

"Shut up, it just popped into my head," she blushed furiously, but she smiled, her dimples showing and flicked a wad of paper at him and laughed harder when it smacked him straight on the nose, making him flinch.

"Oh," he said, rubbing his nose, "You're gonna get it, now!" he got up and lunged at her as she jumped from her chair and ran out of the room. She glanced back to see Dean right behind her, and she squealed.

She ran up the stairs two at a time in an effort to get away as she heard his chuckling from right behind her, when she felt her back slam into the wall and suddenly she was staring up at his bright green eyes. She smiled up at him, her cheeks still warm and her breath catching, before she pulled away whispering in his ear as she went, "Careful, Dean, someone might think you're having fun."

He couldn't help but smile back at her as she hopped down the stairs, her perfect ass shaking as her hand slid down the railing and she moved back towards the kitchen where they were supposed to be researching. He let his head sag against the wall and he groaned. She was going to end up killing him.

* * *

><p>Kelsey looked behind her, and didn't see Dean following her, so she snuck out to the porch, needing some time to clear her thoughts. She was beginning to feel a little freaked out. Statistics said she wouldn't last long if she stayed, but how would she even get home? What was she even doing in their world, anyway? She didn't belong.<p>

_One of these things is not like the other._

Kelsey leaned her head on the railing and then pulled back before letting her head hit it again. She did this several times before she started getting a headache.

"You know you're killing brain cells doing that." Kelsey looked up and made a face as Sam walked up and sat down next to her, placing a bag he was carrying, next to him.

"When did you get back?" She asked, giving him a sidelong glance, curiosity getting to her.

"Just now."

She leaned over and sighed, glancing at the bag, "Dean's gonna want his pie."

Sam froze, and then blinked at her wide-eyed.

Kelsey looked up at him, seeing the look on his face and then burst out laughing, "You forgot it, didn't you? Oh crap, he's gonna throw a fit."

Sam pursed his lips and looked over at her, his lips curving up slightly, "I know."

He watched her as she slowly looked away, noticing the dismal turn of her lips. "So, how come you were banging your head against the railing? Researching with Dean isn't that bad."

She half-smiled and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, "Nah, Sam. It's fine, just . . . just thinkin'."

Sam nodded, probably thinking he understood, "Miss your sister?"

Kelsey looked at him and played along, smiling shyly. "Yeah—yeah you got me."

Sam smiled softly and bumped his shoulder against hers, "It's okay, Kelsey. We'll find a way to get you back home. I promise."

She smiled as they both looked out at the salvage yard. Her thoughts strayed back to Dean and her smile slowly faded. She wasn't so sure she wanted to go back, and that's what really scared her.

* * *

><p>When Bobby came back to the house, he told them that a hunter friend of his hadn't been answering her phone and he was getting worried.<p>

They piled into their cars and Bobby led the way to Olivia Lawry's home.

Kelsey slouched down into the back seat, looking behind her as the road stretched on and on. She sighed and looked back to see Dean giving Sam a hateful look. Her lips twitched as she saw the plastic bag in between them and she laughed as she thought about how Sam had done the unthinkable—he'd forgotten the pie.

Sam glanced back at her when she laughed and gave her a please-god-help-me look but she just shook her head, her dimples popping out with her smile.

Dean grumbled about how when you want something done, you gotta do it yourself. She rolled her eyes and looked out the window as the Impala followed Bobby's car. When Dean turned on the radio and Led Zeppelin poured through the speakers, she sighed and leaned her head back onto the seat again, watching the scenery pass by as her eyelids fluttered and became suddenly heavy.

She let her eyes drift shut, sleep finally claiming her.

The four of them walked through the doorway to Olivia's apartment after knocking several times and not getting an answer. Bobby led the way as the three hunters peeked around the corner, before he abruptly froze and then stormed back outside.

"Bobby?" Dean called after him, confused. Curious as to what had set the older hunter off, Kelsey peered around the corner and saw a young woman sprawled on the floor, her chest gruesomely ripped out.  
>"Oh god," she gasped, her eyes wide. She felt bile rise up in the back of her throat, and tears pricked her eyes. Dean glanced over at her and furled his brows, frowning.<p>

"You should've stayed in the car, Blondie."

She tore her eyes away from the poor woman and just looked at him blankly, still not liking the nick name that he'd adopted for her; it reminded her too much of someone from her past. "Can we talk about this later?"

He pursed his lips but agreed it wasn't the best time to argue. She hung back as he and Sam made their way over to the woman, examining her body and the crime scene—for lack of a better word.

"Salt line." Sam pointed out, seeing it scattered across the floor, as he got closer to the body.

He crouched down by her and placed his shotgun over his shoulder, looking up at Dean, who was grimacing at the gory, bloody torn flesh. He made a face and then out of the corner of his eye, he saw something. Looking up, he saw the weapons wall and moved over to it. He picked up a small rectangular device. "Well, Olivia was rockin' the EMF meter."

Kelsey couldn't move from where she stood, staring at the body. She felt as if her body was frozen and as if there were a hole ripping its way through her own chest. She let out a strangled gasp and clutched her hand to her heart. Her eyes widened when she heard a familiar laugh, and whispering in her ear.

Her brows furled together and she jumped when she felt a hand on her arm. The feeling of cold dread slipped away from her and left her confused and breathless.

She looked up and saw that it was only Sam.

"Are you ok?"

Kelsey just nodded, her hand reaching up to pull out her locket from within her shirt collar and gripped it tightly, her breathing slowly returning to normal.

Dean looked at her, his eyes portraying his concern, but didn't make a move to go over to her, afraid of her reaction, but knowing he'd check on her later. He held up the EMF meter again towards Sam, trying to focus back on the job.

Sam nodded, "Spirit activity."

Dean looked back down at the EMF meter, wondering how the hell they had gotten stuck with this crazy job. "Yeah, on steroids. I've never seen a ghost do this to a person."

Kelsey looked back when Bobby came back in, kicking the salt bag out of his way. He saw the fear in her eyes and how pale she'd gotten in the last ten minutes. "Hey kid, why don't you go take a break, maybe get some fresh air or somethin'."

She nodded and smiled half-heartedly at him before scurrying out the door. Dean saw this transaction and scowled. When he told her to wait outside, she refused, but when Bobby asks, she goes willingly and without a word? Dean looked back at Bobby and his eyes softened.

"Bobby, you alright?"

Bobby shrugged, and held up his phone in his hand, "I called some hunters nearby . . ."

"Good, we could use the help."

" . . . Except they ain't answerin' their phones either." He pocketed his phone, trying to avoid looking directly at Olivia's torn body.

Sam caught Bobby's line of sight and nodded to himself as if confirming a suspicion, "Somethin's up, huh?"

Bobby slowly nodded, glancing down at what used to b Olivia's body, "Ya think?" He shook his head sadly, before turning and walking out.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hi! :-) So, I need your help! There's a big character arc coming up in the next few chapters, but I'm not sure_ if_, or _how_ I should even do it. **

**What would you like to see be brought into the story?::**

**a.)an OFC (love interest for Sam).**

**b.)Kelsey's sister, Karlei (love interest for Sam).**

**c.) no one, don't add any more characters.**

**d.) a love triangle between Dean, Kelsey, and Sam.**

***review, and let me know what you think.* :)**


	11. Rising Of The Witnesses

**Hey! Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who reviewed! :-) The most of you decided you would like to see Kelsey's sister come into the story for the character arc, and as Sam's love interest, or no characters be added to the story at all. The final decision will be made soon. **

**A special thank you to _Naida of the Rain_, for the extremely helpful and supportive review. I appreciate all that you said, and hope that you continue to enjoy the story. :-) **

**Anyway, thank you to everyone again, and on with the story. :}**

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><p>Chapter 11<p>

Rising Of The Witnesses

Kelsey stared up at the roof of the Impala as Dean and Sam were inside of another hunter's home, making sure he was alright. Kelsey knew better this time than to follow along with the Winchesters. She had wanted to just go back to Bobby's, but Dean had vetoed that and said that Bobby was checking out two other hunter's places.

She tried to wipe the memory of Olivia's corpse out of her mind. It reminded her too much of something from her past, and she wasn't willing to go back down that road. Never again.

She sat up as Sam then Dean climbed into the Impala, the doors slamming and she noticed both brothers' faces were grim. Dean's hands tightened on the wheel as he started the engine and she pursed her lips.

"I'm guessing we lost another one?" she sighed at their silence and took it as a nonverbal yes.

She didn't bother trying to ask questions because she knew it would be a futile effort at this point, so she settled back into the seat and looked out the window as the dark and blurry images passed by, feeling sort of morbid.

About an hour in, Dean decided he was tired and switched places with Sam, so he could sleep. Kelsey tried to sleep too, but every time she tried, blood and torn body parts flashed behind her eyes, so she laid in the backseat of the Impala, pretending to sleep as Sam pulled into a gas station.

She heard him get out and she sighed, glancing over at the passenger seat, where Dean was slumped over and his head was leaning out the window. He looked vulnerable and younger as he slept, almost peaceful. She smiled to herself and almost let out a shriek when she saw something in the shadows beyond the parking lot.

She blinked quickly, realizing it wasn't there and was probably just her imagination. Yeah, that was it.

Sitting up, she also realized Sam was gone too. She figured he'd gone inside to get something to eat, or maybe use the bathroom. She tilted her head forward and rested it on her elbows as she leaned against the front seat.

"You know you're a lot more trouble than I ever realized," she whispered, surprising herself by talking to Dean, even though she knew he was asleep.

"I always knew you were the bad ass, the one who breaks girls' hearts and cares too much about his family." She laughed quietly and rolled her eyes at herself, "But honestly, I never thought I'd actually meet you—and color me surprised when you're sweet and charming and sarcastic and crude and a jerk all at the same time."

Dean opened his eyes, not moving and stared out his window as he thought about what she said. He knew he wasn't supposed to have heard it, so he feigned sleep.

She sighed, and laughed under her breath, "You know what really gets me, though?" Dean waited, holding his breath.

Kelsey squeezed her eyes shut, mumbling into her arm. "Is that it doesn't matter much anyway." Dean knew what she had said, and thought about asking her what she meant by that, but she sat up and got out of the car before he could.

She wrapped her arms around herself as the cold night air bit at her as she walked towards the store. Why did she even do that? It's not like he had been awake, what could she possibly even gain from talking to him as he slept? She knew that she probably wouldn't be there for long, whether she died tomorrow, or she woke up in her bed at home, only to realize that it'd all been a dream. Point was, she didn't belong.

She looked up, her body freezing as she heard loud banging from the bathrooms and glass breaking and metal crashing. She shot off towards them and ripped open the door, finding Sam being thrown against the sink by Agent Hendrickson. Kelsey's eyes shot wide open, "Sam!"

She heard movement behind her and before he could even call it out, she ducked at hearing the cocking of the shotgun. "Down!"

Dean fired the rock salt into Hendrickson's back and he dissipated into thin air. Sam glanced up at Dean and then at Kelsey, all three of them sharing puzzled looks.

Kelsey crawled over to Sam, "You alright?"

He nodded batting her hands away as she checked over his cuts and bruises. "Damn it, Sam. I'm a nurse, let me check these out. We need to get you cleaned up!" She huffed and cracked a smile when he looked up at her with wide and innocent puppy-dog eyes. She half-laughed, turning to Dean, "Got a first aid-kit?"

He nodded, "In the trunk."

Kelsey cleaned up Sam's cuts and fussed over him much to the dismay of Sam as he fought not to roll his eyes at her nurturing.

Dean was on the phone trying to reach Bobby as he drove, and cursing because he wasn't picking up.

* * *

><p>When they reached Bobby's the next morning, Sam and Dean had rushed in, their guns in hand, but Kelsey followed behind cautiously, her eyes darting around. She had a feeling something wasn't right.<p>

Looking around, Bobby was nowhere to be seen. Dean found something however, lying on the ground. When he caught Sam's attention and moved over to it, it was a fire poker. He motioned for Sam to check outside and moved up the stairs, Kelsey following behind.

Dean turned to her sharply, as Sam left to search the yard. "What are you doing in here? Go wait outside where it's safe."

Kelsey shook her head defiantly, "No."

"Blondie, Damn it. Just—please?" The anger dissipated from his ton e and expression, showing his true concern for her, but she just shook her head sadly.

She touched his cheek softly, looking into his eyes. "No, I won't leave you to face this alone."

He growled, "If you get hurt . . ."

"I won't," She smiled and picked up the fire poker cheerfully. "'Cause I've got this!"

He rolled his eyes, "You gonna stab at them with a fire poker?"

She lowered the fire poker and pointed her finger at his chest. "Well, isn't it iron?" She looked down at it, and then up to him, her brow flying.

He groaned, and clenched his teeth, knowing he'd lost that argument. "Fine, just stay behind me."

"Yes, master," she retorted, her lips curving up and he just tensed up his shoulders before relaxing them again and continued up the stairs. She let the smile slide off her face as they ascended the stairs, knowing that if she kept things light, he'd calm down. He'd get himself into trouble if he was tense and unfocused.

"Bobby?" Dean called out, his hand straying back to keep Kelsey behind him, when a door next to them slammed shut on its own. Kelsey raised her fire poker, her eyes narrowed. Now, only if she could scrounge up enough courage to help fight this thing.

All the doors in the hallway slammed shut except one, directly down the hall, swinging open slowly. Dean, tilting his head curiously, started to approach it, but Kelsey snagged him back by the shirt collar. "Why do I feel like this is a trap?" she whispered in his ear.

He glanced back at her, impatiently, "Probably 'cause it is."

Dean pushed forward, out of her grip and walked towards the door, his steps quiet and practiced.

* * *

><p>Sam walked around the salvage yard, his head twisting this way and that as he searched for the elder hunter. "Bobby? Bobby!"<p>

Sam swung his shotgun back and forth as he walked through more and more cars, not finding the hunter anywhere.

"Bobby!" He didn't know where the old hunter could be, and he was worried. He kept walking hoping he'd find him somewhere in the huge salvage yard, but he knew that he had to move fast.

However, near where Sam stood, inside a car piled on top of another was Bobby with two twin girls sitting on his chest, their hands over his mouth. They looked down at him cruelly, and his eyes widened in cold fear.

* * *

><p>Dean continued forward, his shotgun poised, and motioned for Kelsey to stay behind him. She bit her lip, not entirely sure she had the guts to handle a ghost. Sure, it was easy to think that you could after years of watching the show, but to actually be thrown into it and that exact situation? Kelsey didn't think so either.<p>

Dean's face grew serious as he inched forward slowly, step by step, "Come out, come out, whoever you are."

Kelsey winced, and muttered sarcastically under her breath, "Oh yeah, because pissing the ghost off, always helps these sorts of situations."

She held the iron fire poker closer to her chest—more like a security blanket than an actual weapon in her hands. Dean paused, his brow furrowing slightly as the room grew colder and he saw his breath in front of his face. Realization dawned on him, and he spun on his heel to warn Kelsey, only a minute too late.

Dean's eyes widened when he found Kelsey face to face with a young girl no older than sixteen. Her midnight black hair fell straight down past her shoulders, and her feline green eyes stared hard as Kelsey stuttered, "N-no, it isn't possible. Y-you . . ."

The ghost smiled cruelly at her and shook her head. "Oh, you remember me, Blondie? You remember what you did to me?"

Kelsey gritted her teeth and swallowed thickly. "Lana . . ."

Lana smiled again, and nodded, "Hey there, Blondie. Long time no see, huh?"

Kelsey swallowed and shook her head, "No, you . . . How?" Her voice was low and broken. Dean didn't know what to do, he was frozen in place. He didn't know who this ghost was or how Kelsey knew her, and he knew that she was dangerous, but he couldn't seem to consciously move.

"Kelsey, Kelsey, Kelsey," Lana shook her head slowly, mocking; "You know what happened to me? Do you know that I died only two days after I left without you?"

The ghost glared at her, "You promised you'd keep me safe, but you didn't. You left me alone to die." Lana told her, stepping closer and gripping Kelsey's throat, easily lifting her feet off the ground. Kelsey dropped the fire poker, her hands going up to her throat, gasping for air.

"I was alone and scared, and you know what? I was killed because of you. I told you there was something wrong there, but it didn't stop you from leaving! It's your fault I died!"

"I-I'm sorry!" she croaked out and Lana's green eyes narrowed into slits. "Stop saying that!" she roared, slamming Kelsey against the wall.

"You're not sorry. You never cared about me. Or, you wouldn't have broken your promise." Kelsey looked up at Lana, her eyes sad.

"Lana . . ."

"No. My world was crashing down around me, and I was going nuts in there after what happened. You promised me you'd help me, and keep me safe, but you didn't. You just left me there to die!"

Lana kicked Kelsey hard in the stomach. Dean awoke out of his trance and raised his shotgun to shoot. Two shots rang out and narrowly missed Kelsey's arm, but also missed Lana. She turned to glare at Dean and suddenly he was being thrown backwards into the room behind him, and the door slammed shut with a sound of finality.

He landed against the far wall, and when he snapped out of it, he jumped up, and pulled the doorknob, but it didn't turn. He kicked the door with his boot, and braced himself before using his full body weight to throw against the door. He dimly realized he must've dropped his gun as he was being flung into the room.

He kept doing this, trying to get to Kelsey, stopping the ghost being his main concern.

Kelsey looked up at Lana, her old friend, her breathing ragged and uneven. "Lana, I'm sorry. There was nothing I could do; I didn't know what they had planned."

Lana let out an angry growl, "Why weren't you there when I needed you?"

"I didn't know!"

She had had enough talking and she started kicking Kelsey again and again in the stomach. She kneeled by Kelsey, her face harsh and uncaring. "That's right, you didn't know. But, you left anyway, because the thought that I could die in there didn't cross your mind! Because _I _didn't cross your mind!"

Kelsey grimaced, clutching her stomach when something caught her eye, the fire poker. She started crawling towards it as Lana paused to laugh at Dean's weak attempts to break down the door.

"He doesn't think he can save you, does he? I couldn't be saved," Lana turned to look down at Kelsey, "and now you can't be saved either."

Kelsey looked up at Lana, her former best friend, with sad eyes. A tear slipped from her eye as she swung the fire poker through her stomach.

As she dissipated, Kelsey fell back to the floor, her head bouncing a little on the wood.

She heard Dean break through the door, and she looked up at him, upside down, and let the fire poker roll out of her hand onto the floor.

Kelsey met his eyes brokenly, "Who was that?" he asked.

She sat up slowly, and accepted the hand he offered to help her up with. She fell into his arms, and he circled them around her tightly as she explained. "That was my best friend. Her mom had her committed when we were sophomores in high school. She wasn't mentally stable, but I'd known her for so long, so I visited her when I could.

"But eventually, they said it wasn't in her best interest for visitors anymore, and so I had to stop going. I promised I'd help her and keep her safe, because she was scared there. The next week, her picture popped up on the news, saying that she'd overdosed. Dean, she died because I left her there alone."

Dean held her tightly, "No, she died from an overdose. You didn't know." He told her gently as he could. "You didn't know."

Kelsey looked up from resting her head on his chest and gasped, her eyes going wide as she focused on something past his shoulder.

"Dean Winchester." He turned around, his arms loosening from around Kelsey and faced the young girl with shoulder-length brown hair and dirty and torn clothing. Dean's face grew grim and he raised his shotgun at her, clenching his teeth.

"You don't recognize me?" She tilted her head to the side, and Dean narrowed his eyes as he searched his memory for this girl. "This is what I looked like before that demon cut off my hair and dressed me like a slut."

Dean couldn't believe it, his brows raising incredulously, "Meg?"

Meg nodded, her smile sarcastic and malicious. "Hi."

Dean raised his gun and aimed it at her head.

She raised her arms in surrender, "It's okay, I'm not a demon."

Dean tilted his head, "You're the girl the demon possessed."

She lowered her arms, "Meg Masters."

Kelsey looked at her, her eyes narrowing as it all clicked into place. She didn't say anything, but she wasn't so sure these were your average run-of-the-mill ghosts. First, Sam is visited by Agent Hendrickson, someone he felt guilt for being killed; next she was visited by her former best friend that she felt at fault for her being killed. And now, Meg Masters was back. Kelsey had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't just there to chat.

She gave him a blank look, "Nice to finally talk to you, when I'm not, you know, choking on my own blood."

Dean's expression wavered at the mention of her dying in his arms, but when she stepped forward, he kept his shotgun raised high in the air, still aimed towards her face.

"It's okay, seriously, I'm just a college girl . . . Sorry, was. I was walking home one night when I got jumped by all this smoke. Next thing I know, I'm a prisoner, in here," she tapped her temple. "Now, I was awake. I had to watch while she _murdered_ people."

Dean swallowed, his gun lowering, "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

Meg stood closer to him, her eyes sad, "Oh yeah? So sorry you had me thrown off a building?"

Dean remembered her falling from the building as him and his brother looked on and quickly blinked away the memory, "Well, we thought . . ."

"But you didn't!" she exploded, stepping close to him, getting in his face, "Think!" Dean's face contorted into misery, unable to handle the guilt. "I kept waiting, praying. I was trapped in there, screaming at you, 'Just help me please!' You're supposed to help people Dean, why didn't you help me?"

Dean didn't know what to say, he felt horrible, "I-I'm sorry."

Her face screwed up, "Stop saying you're sorry!" She punched him in the face, making him fall to the ground.

Kelsey made her way over to Meg, the iron fire poker still in hand. She swung with all her might and watched triumphantly as Meg disappeared.

Only to be hit in the back of the leg with something sharp, causing white hot pain to surge through her. When she crumbled to the floor, she saw that Meg had kicked her with her shoe.

"Kelsey!" Dean saw her fall to the floor, groaning, but before he could make it over to her, Meg kicked away his gun and kneeled down by him, her face a mask of hate. "Meg, I'm sorry, okay? We didn't know!"

"No, you didn't. Didn't you stop to think there was a girl in here? No, you just charged in slashing and burning. You think you're some kind of hero?"

Kelsey's anger flared at that comment and slowly stood up, wincing, picking the gun up with her as she did. "Hey, just cause you lived with a Hell bitch, doesn't give you a right to act like one!" She shot at Meg three times and she disappeared again. Kelsey sighed, her shoulders sagging as she dropped to her knees by Dean. "You okay?"

He nodded gruffly, "I think my face broke my fall."

If she hadn't felt so worn out, she would've laughed. She looked down at his face and laughed anyway, unable to control herself.

* * *

><p>The twin girls looked down at Bobby with hatred in their eyes. "Are you scared Bobby?"<p>

"We were scared, Bobby."

"When the monster came for us."

"And grabbed us tight."

"And we couldn't even scream."

"You were right there, Bobby."

"You were in the house."

"You were so close."

She looked down at Bobby as he writhed underneath them, looking frightened and hated that the memory was being brought to the surface.

Sam looked around, noticing the temperature drop where he stood and how he could see his breath in front of his face. He looked around frantically, hitting a car's hood to his right. "Bobby!"

"You could have saved us Bobby."

Sam grabbed something from the car, shouting, "I'm here Bobby!"

One of the twins stared down at him, "You walked right past that door."

Sam used a crow bar trying to pry open a random car trunk, thinking Bobby might be in there.

"The monster had us."

"And you didn't find us."

The girl looked down at him and stared impassively, "And now, they won't find you." She covered his nose with her other hand, blocking his airways.

Sam finally got the trunk open, but no Bobby. He looked around and his eyes caught on a frozen side-view mirror on a car stacked on another, when he heard glass cracking. His eyes ran across the broken and smashed body of the car frame and started running towards it. "Bobby! Hold on, Bobby! I'm comin'!"

Sam jumped up and peeked through the crack of the half-open door, "Bobby!" he ripped the door open with the crowbar in his hands, and saw two little girls holding Bobby down. They looked up violently, when Sam did this and shoved him out of the way with their minds, forcing him to fall back on a car's windshield.

When Sam slightly recovered from the fall, he opened his eyes to see a little girl sitting on his chest, trying to grip his heart, but he swung the iron crowbar and she dissipated. Looking up, he saw the other twin staring at him, about to attack when Bobby came up from behind her, and pushed his crowbar through her neck, making her disappear as well.

* * *

><p>"I had a sister, Dean. You know how little siblings are? When my body was sitting in the morgue, beaten and broken, you know what that did to her?" Meg appeared behind Dean and kicked him hard in his back, forcing him to roll over in pain. She then kicked him twice in the stomach, her anger rising. "She killed herself, because of you! This blood is on <em>your hands<em>!"

Kelsey stood and faced Meg, but she just turned towards her menacingly, "What you think you're going to save the day? You don't even belong here!" She punched Kelsey square in the jaw and pulled her by the hair until she fell to the ground.

"You're nothing but an empty shell, a mockery of yourself. No one wanted you in your world, and no one wants you here. Why _are_ you even here? You're certainly not helping anyone!" She kicked Kelsey in the stomach again, and she spit up some blood. She wiped her mouth and glared at Meg.

"What made you think I give a damn about what you think?" she retorted and her laughter turned to choking as more blood filled her mouth when Meg kicked her again.

Spitting it out, she started crawling towards Dean, who was still clutching his stomach and trying to breathe normally. When Meg appeared above the both of them, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at her.

"Dean, Dean, Dean, you know you can't shoot me with bullets." She looked down at them with hatred in her eyes.

Dean glanced up, "Not shooting you." He raised his gun up towards the ceiling and fired twice, the chain of the chandelier breaking and dropping directly on top of Meg, falling to the floorboards.

Dean looked down at the chandelier and smirked weakly, and groaned slightly, "Iron."

He glanced at Kelsey and crawled closer to her. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Kelsey looked up at him and raised her brows, "Oh sorry, did I interrupt her kicking your butt?" she gave him a weak look, "C'mon, I was just trying to help you not get killed."

"Yeah," he added sarcastically, as he moved her hair away from her bruised jaw, "and get yourself killed in the process."

"Oh shut up, I'm still here aren't I?" Kelsey grumbled, and staggered to her feet, clutching her sore stomach. She held out her hand to Dean and helped him up. Kelsey put her arm around his middle while he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, both supporting the other as they stumbled down the stairs.

* * *

><p>"So they're all people we know?" Sam asked exasperatedly, throwing his hands in the air. Dean sat on the couch, reloading his gun.<p>

He looked up, "Not just know, people we couldn't save."

" . . . People who weren't supposed to die." Kelsey muttered, twisting the bracelet on her wrist and staring down at it.

Dean glanced over at her, his brows furrowing, hoping she still wasn't feeling like her friend's death was on her.

He looked back at Bobby, "Yeah, I saw something on Meg. Did she have a tattoo when she was alive?"

Sam shook his head, "I don't think so . . ."

He pointed to the back of his hand, "It was like a mark on her hand, like a brand."

Sam's face changed, "I saw a mark too on Hendrickson."

Bobby's face turned thoughtful, "What'd it look like?"

Sam grabbed some paper and started drawing it, his sketch quick and unpracticed. He picked it up and showed it to Kelsey and Dean and then Bobby.

Dean lifted his head, after cocking his shotgun in his hand, "That's it."

Dean handed Sam the shotgun as Bobby walked over to one of his many bookshelves.

They all paused and looked around at each other as the wind kicked up outside. "We gotta move."

"Where?" Sam asked.

Bobby gave him an are-you-really-that-stupid kind of look, "Someplace safe, you idjit."

He handed Sam a pile of books and told them to follow him as he grabbed some more books. They followed Bobby into his basement, and up to an iron door. Kelsey looked at it thoughtfully and almost smiled, "Is this like a supernatural bomb shelter?"

Bobby cracked a grin at her, and gave a slight nod, as he opened up the door and encouraged the three of them inside. Sam and Dean shared a look and then stepped inside. Taking a look around, Kelsey saw Devil's traps and other markings, a wall filled with weapons, a cot and a desk. Dean turned sharply at the sound of the metal door closing and Bobby turned the handle, locking them inside.

"Bobby is this . . . ?"

Bobby set down the books he was holding and faced Sam seriously, "Solid iron . . . completely coated in salt." He looked up, "one-hundred-percent ghost proof."

Sam had this small smile building on his face and Kelsey watched, amused, as he stared at Bobby in awe.

"You built a panic room?" He gave Bobby an odd look and the older hunter's expression turned sheepish.

Bobby shrugged it off, "I had a weekend off."

Sam smiled and shook his head. Dean held up a gun towards Kelsey with a huge smile on his face. She rolled her eyes, thinking only Dean could get that excited over guns.

"Bobby . . ."

Bobby turned to face Dean, "What?"

He grinned widely, "You're awesome."

Sam and Kelsey grinned, barely holding in their laughter. Dean looked behind Bobby, his face changing slightly, "Oh."

Kelsey and Sam, noticing the look on his face, followed his line of vision and both cracked up. There on the wall was a poster of Bo Derek in a one-piece swimsuit from the movie _10_.

Dean gave Sam a harsh glare, his cheeks turning a light pink, which only made Kelsey laugh harder.

* * *

><p>"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you mean the apocalypse?" Kelsey's heart was racing, and she felt faint. She grabbed onto Sam's arm for support, before she could collapse to the floor.<p>

Bobby raised a brow at her, "You gonna be alright, darlin'?"

She glanced up at him, "Sorry, just freaking out a little here. How are we supposed to stop the apocalypse?"

Bobby shrugged, "Hell if I know?"

"Holy shitake mushrooms, don't you guys ever catch a break?" she asked, her voice low.

Dean barked out a quick laugh, "No," he shook his head, "Not really." He pinched the bridge of his nose, "So really, the apocalypse, apocalypse. The four horsemen, pestilence—five dollar a gallon of gas apocalypse?"

"That's the one." Bobby nodded. "The Rising of the Witnesses is a sign of the apocalypse; a mile marker. Says right here in the book of Revelations."

Sam uncrossed his arms, looking down at Bobby. "Okay, so what do we do now?"

Dean blew out a quick breath, "Road trip, you know grand canyon, star trek experience." He clapped his hands together, turning around and pacing the panic room. He turned towards Sam, pointing his finger, "Bunny Ranch."

Kelsey just raised an eyebrow, and he shrugged. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

"First things first, we gotta get rid of our friends out there."

Dean sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the room. He turned towards Bobby, "Great. Got any ideas besides staying in this room until judgment day?"

Kelsey raised her eyebrows, ignoring Dean's sarcastic comment. "We're not gonna be able to get rid of these witnesses like normal ghosts are we?"

Bobby shook his head, "Nope, it's a spell." He tapped his pencil on the book. "To send the witnesses back to rest. Should work."

Sam's eyebrows shot up at that, "Should, huh, great."

"If I translate everything correctly." Kelsey looked up, biting her lip.

"Uh, what language is it in?"

Bobby gave her a strange look, ". . . Why?"

"Just answer the question?"

"Latin, of course."

Kelsey nodded, extending her hand for the book, "Hand it over, please."

He raised his brows and gave it to her, "What are you gonna do?"

She looked up at him, and tucked her hair behind her ear, "I took a Latin course in college." She blushed, "The professor's assistant gave me extra lessons. I'm not fluent but, I know enough." She looked back down at the book and began silently reading it, trying to find the correct words.

Dean looked at her, "What do you mean extra lessons?"

Kelsey didn't glance up from the book, but a sour look crossed her face. "It's none of your business, now is it?"

Dean frowned and grumbled to himself. Sam just laughed and shook his head.

Bobby cleared his throat, "Okay I should have everything we need in the house."

Dean smiled crookedly, "Any chance you got everything we need in this room?"

Bobby made a face, "You thought all our luck was going to start now, all of a sudden?" Kelsey tried to hold in her laughter, but for the most part was unsuccessful.

Dean tilted his head and gave it a shake, and Bobby nodded, "Spells gotta be cast over an open fire." He stood and walked over to the weapons wall.

"Fireplace in the library," Sam said.

Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, "It's just not as appealing as a ghost-proof panic room, y'know?"

Kelsey nodded, not looking up from her book, "Here, here."

They all got up and grabbed a gun, save Kelsey who just got to hold the book, since she was the one who would be reciting it. Dean gave her a look, and she nodded, understanding it. She paused, when did she suddenly start understanding his facial expressions? She shrugged and nodded again. The look he'd given her was something to the extent of be-careful-and-don't-get-yourself-killed. Kelsey smiled to herself, thinking that it sounded like something he might say.

She swallowed thickly, as Bobby and the rest of them lined up at the door. She and Sam exchanged brief glances and nods.

Kelsey looked around the three of them and nodded. "Just want you guys to know, it was awesome getting to meet you."

"You say that like you don't expect to make it through this." Sam said, frowning.

Kelsey shrugged, "Well, I'm going to try."

Dean cleared his throat, but Bobby just rolled his eyes, "Sorry, sweetheart, but looks like you're not gonna get your hug goodbye."

She grinned at Bobby, "That's okay, didn't expect one anyway."

Bobby just nodded curtly, and she let her grin fade as they all faced the door. She swallowed again and took a deep breath. "Be careful," he said to Sam and Dean, "Don't run out of ammo 'til she's done, or they'll shred ya."

They both nodded, their guns raised in the air. He sighed, "Ready?"

Bobby opened the hatch, and swung the door open. Sam swung his gun around, checking all directions for a ghost or anything else that might pop up. Kelsey felt pretty vulnerable, considering she was the only one without a weapon, but she steeled herself and focused on the mission. Get to the library, get the fire started and perform the spell.

Besides, though she knew how to shoot and operate a gun, she wasn't sure actually using it on anything—like supernatural beings—was something she'd be able to do.

Staying on alert, the brothers and Bobby stepped out of the room, with Kelsey following behind. They kept their eyes on their surroundings, as they moved forward. Sam looked up the stairs, his gun aimed as well, but the coast, so far, was clear.

Dean looked up as he turned the corner, and froze, seeing a familiar face. He raised his gun automatically, but paused seeing Ronald sitting on the stairs. Kelsey's eyes turned down sadly, remembering poor Ronald and how he had been so close to the truth, and yet so far away.

"Hey Dean, remember me?" Ronald looked up at him, and smiled slightly. He looked almost frightened and desperately sad.

Dean smiled, the memory of him returning. "Ronald." He pointed to his eyes with his index and middle fingers, "huh, with the laser eyes—wish I could say it's good to see you."

Ronald stood up, his face darkening. "I am dead because of you. You were supposed to help me!" he shouted and before he could say anything else, Bobby fired his shotgun into Ronald, making him disappear from the top of the stairs.

Dean looked at Bobby and shrugged, "If you're gonna shoot, shoot. Don't talk." He looked up and moved up the stairs. Dean looked back and shared a look with Sam, before following Bobby.

They hurried up the stairs, and Kelsey set the book down on Bobby's desk as she helped form the salt lines and circle.

Dean found some matches and hurriedly lit some and started the fire.

Bobby looked at Sam, "Upstairs, linen closet. Red hex box. It'll be heavy."

Sam nodded and headed up the stairs, "Got it."

"Bobby . . . we've got company." Bobby glanced up to see what Kelsey was talking about and saw the twin girls standing side by side outside the salt circle.

Dean looked back from the fireplace and stood quickly, aiming and firing at the two girls with his sawed off shotgun. Kelsey looked around, a shiver going up her spine as she heard the giggles of the little girls echo throughout the house.

Kelsey felt the temperature in the room drop again and her breath turned visible. She glanced around and then suddenly she choked on her breath as she felt her heart being squeezed by something cold and hard.

Dean and Bobby hadn't noticed yet and Bobby spouted off orders for Dean to find something from the kitchen.

Kelsey's eyes rolled back in her head as the pain in her chest became unbearable, the fist around it, squeezing harder. "B-b-b—"

Bobby whipped his head around, and fired the shotgun at the ghost of Lana, making her disappear for the moment. Kelsey collapsed to the ground, clutching her chest and breathing raggedly.

Dean rushed back in, and his eyes widened when he saw her crumpled on the ground, with Bobby kneeling by her. "Hey!" He rushed over, "What happened?"

"Damn ghost had the girl by the heart." Bobby told Dean, his voice gruffer than usual, his face grim and his jaw set. The elder hunter was pissed.

Dean helped her up, "You okay?"

Kelsey gave him a weird look, shaking her head. "Fine." She muttered.

Sam came back downstairs, and ran straight into Meg, "What you're doing with Ruby? I would've thought you'd have learned from the months you watched me suffer. All the bodies Ruby burns through, and you don't send her back to Hell? You're a monster—"

Sam interrupted her with his shotgun in her face, firing. She disappeared as he walked past, the red box in his hands.

Bobby helped Kelsey finish getting everything ready and Dean brought in the bowl with opium.

As he was following Bobby's orders, Ronald popped up, watching what he was doing. "Ronald. Hey, I thought we were pals, man."

Ronald looked up at him, his face blank. "That was when I was breathing. Now, I'm going to eat you alive."

Dean laughed, loading his shotgun, "Ron, I'm not a cheeseburger," he lifted the shotgun, but Ronald was nowhere to be seen.

Bobby handed Kelsey the bowl, as she leaned heavily against the desk, writing on the desk with chalk. He picked up his shot gun and the boys turned their backs to her, facing out, protecting her as she spoke the spell in Latin.

She held the bowl up, her eyes fluttering closed as she focused on the spell, "_Elementum__ aquae__Ego te__ i__nvitem me adiuvet__ i__n hac fractione cantatrix_!"

The windows to her right slid up, crashing against the frame and the wind pulled at the curtains and rushed against Kelsey's face. She watched out of the corner of her eye as more witnesses showed up, Dean and Sam struggling to keep shooting as Meg and Hendrickson and Ronald harassed them with guilt trips. The wind kicked up and blew the salt from the circle it had formed, leaving their defense weakened. Kelsey heard a dark chuckle and when she half-turned around, she was face to face with Lana again. Dean shot her through the stomach, and gave Kelsey a nod before turning back to shooting the ghosts as they reappeared.

Kelsey turned back to the bowl, chanting with new resolve, and focused on the ritual as she mixed the ingredients into the bowl.  
>"<em>Accipe<em>_, spiritus et animæ __tenemu__r __redire__ad__eos__tota_!"

"C'mon, Kelsey. You know this won't change anything. It will always be your fault. You screw everything up. You always have and you always will." Lana grinned darkly and stood there watching her, a menacing smile on her face. Bobby shot her this time and spun on his heel as he shot at the two twin girls as well.

Kelsey gritted her teeth, but continued the chant, watching the boys and Bobby out of the corner of her eye. "_V__erba__vicissim__aperio__characterem super__signum__in__carne sua__habitationem__istam_."

She watched Dean, Sam and Bobby emptying rounds into the witnesses as they popped up repeatedly after every shot fired. She knew she had to finish the incantation before they ran out of bullets, and that could be soon, she realized.

Suddenly, Dean's gun was ripped from his hands as he tried to reload, looking up to see Hendrickson smirking at him as he approached.

Dean quickly picked up a sawed off shotgun lying on the desk, but it was out of ammo. He grimaced and looked behind him, running behind Bobby's desk, and grabbing Kelsey's discarded fire poker. He slashed the iron through Hendrickson and watched triumphantly as his form dispersed.

Sam shot off a salt round into Ronald again and as he was reloading his shotgun, he heard a groaning of wood against wood. When he looked up, he saw Meg pushing the desk towards him mentally and it pinned him back against the book shelf.

"Sam!" Dean shouted, as Bobby shot Meg and continued to shoot the little girls who kept popping up closer and closer.

"Cover Kelsey!" Sam groaned, as he fought to push the desk off of him.

Kelsey, her eyes darting to Sam as he was still trapped, lifted the bowl into the air, "_P__urgare_ _numerum__animarum__illa__trahere__rursus__ m__undate__domum__istamhinc__spirituum obscuro rum__purgare__igni__s_—"

She felt the same cold fist plunge through her back into her chest cavity and squeezing her heart. Kelsey let out a choked gasp, her fingers tightening on the bowl as she struggled to overcome the pain and the constricting of her lungs.

"You know, it's really empowering to hold someone's life in your hands," Lana whispered in Kelsey's ear, her hand tightening considerably on her heart, making her chest swell from the increasing pressure, feeling like a balloon about to pop. Kelsey choked out more of the incantation, the only thing she could do to end it.

"_A__qua__,__terra,__spiritus,__sinite __h__os__abire__hinc__anima__s_." Kelsey stumbled as she fell to her knees, still clutching the bowl, as the dry ingredients inside tossed and turned.

Dean stared at Kelsey hard, not knowing what to do or how to help her as Lana grasped her heart in her hands. Kelsey glared up at her former best friend, her face red with strain.

"_C__ruore__lacrimas__dolor_!"

She tossed the bowl's ingredients into the burning fire and it hissed and popped, sparks flying as the flame turned a bluish white and the whole room was filled with that same too-bright bluish white light. The witnesses disintegrated from where they stood and when the light faded, they were gone, the only traces of their presence was the spilled salt, and papers strewn about the study.

Dean lowered his arms from covering his eyes, and glanced at Kelsey as she collapsed on the ground with a strangled moan. "Kelsey?"

He moved over to her, helping her up, as Sam quickly pushed the desk away from him and came over to help.

She nodded, signaling that she'd be okay and they all paused to look around the room. Bobby took one look around the dirty study and pursed his lips.

"You boys will be cleaning this up, I hope you know."

* * *

><p>Kelsey stretched as she leaned against the counter the next morning, wincing as she heard her back pop. She poured herself a cup of coffee and smiled into the mug as she watched Dean's head lolling to one side as he slept on the couch. Kelsey thought he must've come down in the middle of the night and fallen asleep as he looked at the book that was sprawled open in his lap.<p>

She chuckled and set down her coffee, walking over to him and carefully picked up the book off his lap. She flipped it over and looked at the cover. "_The Secret History of Lucifer_" was what she read. Her eyebrows rose, but she set it down on the desk quietly and brought the quilted blanket over the back of the couch and pulled it over him as he still slept.

When she gently brushed his hair off his forehead, he shifted his head, and pushed his cheek into her warm hand, a growing smile on his face.

She laughed and pinched his cheek lightly, "Morning Sunshine, good dreams I hope?"

Dean opened his eyes and looked at her, blinking away sleep, and thinking about what Castiel had told him the night before. He shook his head slowly, his smile fading and she frowned. She sat on the edge of the couch next to him, and turned to face him. "Wanna talk about it?"

Dean turned to her, clearing his throat, his face serious and unsure at the same time. "You got no problem believing in God and angels, right?"

Kelsey slowly nodded, "Sure." She looked at him, "Dean, what's going on?"

"So you believe in the Devil?"

Kelsey looked at him for a moment, and then nodded, "Yeah, there's gotta be some balance right?" She bit her lip, "Seriously, what's going on Dean?"

Dean looked at her, and told her about what Castiel had said. He wanted to believe in God, and angels, but he just didn't know what to believe anymore. He just hoped that everything would work out in the end. But, how often did that happen?


	12. The Bond That Breaks Us

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I'm not going to lie, I got totally involved with a Vampire Diaries story I've been working on, and barely thought about this story. And with the decision on who should (or shouldn't) be brought into the story, I've had so many distractions. All you reviewers out there who spoke up, thank you for the help! I've finally decided what I'm going to do and I hope you guys are as happy as I am with the results. ;) **

_**Morgan Le Fay**_**: Well, yes she's still wearing the clothes she arrived in: a white t-shirt with a blood stain above her hip, ripped jeans, old converse sneakers, and a leather jacket. It talks a little bit about it in this chapter, but I hope that helps. : )**

_**katemasecullen**_**: Yes, technically Dean did not break the first seal because he did not shed blood in Hell, but Lilith still broke a seal (The Rise of The Witnesses) and there are seals that have been broken that aren't really mentioned. Sorry for the confusion, but Lilith is still trying for the apocalypse, so even if Dean didn't break down and torture souls in Hell, she'd find another way to break seals. Or, at least that's what I think.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 12<p>

The Bond That Breaks Us

Kelsey sat with on the edge of the bed of the hotel that they had checked into. She sighed and threw herself back onto the bed, her hair fanning out around her head like a golden halo. She made a sour face up at the ceiling and released the breath she had been holding, with a heavy sigh.

They had left Bobby's earlier that morning after Dean had told her about his midnight meeting with Castiel, the angel. Sighing, she thought about how Lilith was now breaking seals to bring forth the apocalypse—releasing Lucifer. She had told him that they'd find a way to stop it, that they would do all that they could.

But, Dean hadn't believed her—she'd seen it in his eyes.

Her eyes darted to the side as something soared across the room in a blur of movement, but once she sat up to see what the hell it could've been, it was gone. Like she'd imagined it completely. Shaking the weird thoughts away, she chalked it up to her lack of sleep lately. Glancing over, she found Sam hunching over his computer, his eyebrows down over his eyes as he concentrated. Then, hearing the loud crinkling turn of a glossy magazine page, she turned her head to see Dean reading Sports Illustrated, looking just as bored as she was.

Absently scratching the area near her stitches, her face screwed up in annoyance and she shot off the bed, deciding that she needed something to do.

She turned and bent over the duffel bag they'd picked up for her at a store they'd passed, packed with enough clothes to survive in for a while. She grabbed a few things she'd need to take a shower and get dressed in clean clothes. Sam had been the one to take her shopping, while Dean stayed in the car, since he despised shopping so much.

Feeling a bit less useless than she had a minute before, she strode into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her, with just enough force to make both brothers jump at the sound. They simultaneously glanced at the shut bathroom door, and then at each other wearing matching masks of curiosity and confusion.

Dean put aside the magazine he'd been sightlessly flipping through, his thoughts elsewhere, and called loudly, "Kelsey? Everything a'right?"

Swallowing thickly as she peered at her reflection in the mirror, she could feel the dirt and blood all over her skin, and she shuddered.

She quickly stripped out of her the dirty clothes, wrapping herself with a white towel the hotel provided. Her eyes flew to the door, as soon as Dean had called her name. She opened the door, and looked at him questioningly.

"Everything okay?" he repeated, his brows lifted inquisitively, and she nodded.

"Yeah, just taking a shower."

His brow flew up sarcastically as he pointedly looked her up and down, as she stood there in only her towel. Her cheeks burned, and she self-consciously threw her arms across her chest, and cleared her throat.

"Is there anything else?" Sam shook his head, his eyes never leaving the computer screen in front of him, but Dean just grinned.

She glared at him, her cheeks still burning, and finally he shook his head no. A smug grin was still plastered on his face, however, as his thoughts flashed between dirty and dirtier thoughts. Shaking the images away, he turned back to his magazine, trying—and failing—to pry her from his thoughts.

Kelsey glanced at the both of them and sighed, shaking her head as she shut the door behind her once more. But, as soon as she set her sights on the shower, her mood brightened considerably. She quickly turned on the water, testing the temperature before dropping the towel and stepping inside. Once the water touched her skin, it was as if all her stress and worries melted away.

Her hair was slicked back, and she let the water beat down on her as she leaned forward under the faucet, bracing her hands on the wall. She hung her head, and breathed out her frustration. A tidal wave of emotion hit her full-force, and she choked back a sob. It was as if everything was sinking in, everything she'd gone through in the last forty-eight hours. She really had been dropped into the crazy world of Sam and Dean's, and chances were she'd never see her family again.

All she had left of that life were memories.

About fifteen minutes had passed, before she shut off the shower, and squeezed the last of the water from her hair, wrapping a towel around herself. Kelsey wiped the steam from the mirror and paused, staring at her reflection. She practiced facial expressions, angry, happy, sad, and what Dean had deemed her _poker face_. The only good thing that came from being able to easily control her expression was that she could easily hide how she was really feeling. Shaking her head, she got dressed and fixed her makeup, letting her hair dry naturally.

When she finally came out of the bathroom, fully dressed, she walked over to her duffel and pulled out a pair of biker boots that Sam had let her get. When she finished pulling them on, she turned to face both brothers, and sighed.

"I'm bored, so I'm gonna check out the bar. Any of you wanna join me?"

Dean looked up from his magazine, and nearly jumped off the bed, throwing his jacket on and grabbing his keys. "I'm in."

Sam shook his head though, and when Kelsey mock-pouted at him, he shrugged. "Tired, maybe I'll catch up on some sleep."

"Fine, you party-pooper. We'll have so much fun without you, you'll be sorry you didn't come with us." She waved bye with a teasing smile, and went out the door. Dean paused in the doorway, as always, worried about his younger brother, "You okay man?"

Sam nodded seriously, "Yeah, like I said, tired." He nodded towards the door, "Have fun."

Dean shrugged, his eyes sparkling, "Planning on it." With that, he shut the door behind him and caught up to Kelsey as she walked to the Impala.

* * *

><p>The place wasn't fancy or a five star restaurant, but it had beer and whiskey and music. Kelsey had decided before they'd even stepped into the joint that she wanted to drown her sorrows with alcohol, or at least get mildly tipsy. As soon as they sat down at the counter, she ordered four shots and two beers.<p>

Dean gave her a strange look, his brows lifted, but she shrugged. "I feel like getting drunk."

"I'll second that," he grinned as the shots were lined up in front of them, along with the beer bottles, and he handed her one shot, taking his own. He smirked at her as they clinked their glasses before shooting it back. Kelsey coughed once, savoring the familiar burn.

Several shots and four beers later, Kelsey was leaning up against the old jukebox, choosing a song.

Once the song started playing, her hips started moving with the beat, and Dean watched her, turned around with his back against the bar, sipping on his beer slowly.

There were other people already dancing, laughing and having a good time, even a few women, but Dean's eyes were glued to the blonde who was making his heart flip flop.

The tight jeans she wore clung to every curve as she twirled her hips to and fro, her smile seductive as she locked eyes with his, quirking her finger at him, beckoning him to join her. He shook his head at her, a smile gracing his lips as he took a swig from his beer. She was purposefully baiting him, drunker than a skunk, and he knew it, but he couldn't help but watch her.

Every movement she made flashed a bit of the smooth, flat planes of her stomach. Kelsey wanted him to dance with her, but he just sat in the bar stool, slowly sipping on his beer, his green eyes watching her every move. It made her insides tingle, and she knew that her inhibitions had left her hours before, but heat coiled in her stomach and her cheeks burned at the way he was looking at her.

A guy she barely paid any attention to, came up to her and started dancing with her, saying something about how a pretty girl like her shouldn't be dancing alone. She wanted to agree with him, but she didn't want to dance with just anybody. She wanted to dance with Dean. The guy who'd approached her moved to snake his arm around her waist, but she was already done with him. Stepping away from him, she walked straight towards Dean, her lips curled up into a smile.

"Having fun?"

She just nodded, taking his beer from his hand and setting it on the bar counter. She grabbed his hand and tugged. He sighed as he rolled his eyes and let her drag him onto the dance floor, grinning like a fool.

"_She had the face of an angel_

_Smiling with sin_

_A body of Venus with arms_

_Dealing with danger_

_Stroking my skin_

_Let the thunder and lightning start"_

She turned so that her back was to Dean, and curved her hand around his neck as she ground her hips against the front of his jeans. He let out a shocked breath, reaching out his hands on instinct to grab her hips as she continued her assault.

"Having fun, Dean?" She asked and her voice was close to his ear as she whispered. They were grinding against each other, and Dean was just barely holding himself together, wanting to turn her around and crush her lips to his in a fiery kiss. His mind recalled the day he met her, only a week or two before and the harsh, but passionate kiss, and he licked his suddenly dry lips as his fingers dug into her hips.

He grunted in response and she smiled as she redoubled her efforts, moving her hips harder against his. When her breath started coming out harsher, louder, she leaned her head back on his shoulder.

"_It wasn't the first_

_It wasn't the last_

_It wasn't that she didn't care_

_She wanted it hard_

_And wanted it fast_

_She liked it done medium rare_

_Seems like a touch, a touch too much_

_Seems like a touch, a touch too much_

_Too much for my body, too much for my brain_

_This kind of woman's gonna drive me insane_

_She's got a touch, a touch too much"_

The song's end came too soon and they slowly, reluctantly broke apart, and turned to face each other. They locked eyes, and for a second—a fleeting second—she thought he would kiss her, but he cleared his throat and looked away.

She smiled half-heartedly, suddenly feeling much too sober and sighed, knowing the night was over. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, we probably should."

Shrugging, she started walking out, him following behind her. Once she stood in front of the Impala, she found herself pinned to the car and looking up into Dean's bright hazel-green eyes. Swallowing thickly, she realized that the cool night air had sobered her even further, and felt like she shouldn't have tried to wallow in self-pity and booze.

His hips pushed into hers, and his hand came up to brush strands of hair out of her face, cupping her cheek. "I've wanted to do this again since we met."

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh." He mumbled, and had the back door to the impala opened in a few seconds, their world getting turned on its side as they crashed down onto the seat. Their lips met in a feverish kiss, and her legs wrapped around his waist. When she broke away for air, he continued his assault on her with his mouth down her neck, and over her collarbone.

She was drunk off his touch alone, and felt only small remnants of the alcohol still addling her brain. Clarifying thoughts reached her and she couldn't help but voice them aloud, "I suppose we should stop before this goes too far." She told him on a sigh, but he didn't stop, there was no halting tone in her voice.

"Guess so."

"I mean, it could change too many things. Make it awkward, and uncomfortable . . ."

"Hmm," he replied wordlessly as he inched her top up to her rib cage, kissing every inch of her skin.

Before he could reach the button on her jeans, she pulled him back up and crashed her lips to his. There was only so much sexual tension a girl could take.

* * *

><p>"<em>Karlei?" she mumbled and Kelsey squeezed her sister to her tightly. Karlei's wide hazel eyes looked around fearfully until she realized who was hugging her. "K-Kelsey?"<em>

_Kelsey pulled back, wiping her eyes and smiling through her tears, nodding. "Yeah. It's me."_

"_Jesus, Kels. I thought you were gone for good." Karlei sniffled into her sister's shoulder and wiped at her eyes angrily; she hated crying. _

_Kelsey squeezed the life out of her, holding onto her tightly. Karlei nodded suddenly and pulled away, "Okay, okay, get off me. Moment's over."_

_Kelsey rolled her eyes and her lips curved up in crooked half-smile. Karlei took a look around, and raised her brows. "Where are we?"_

_Kelsey paused and took a look around, unsure of where they were exactly either. "I don't know." She muttered. They were standing on a small hill, under the shade of a large oak tree. Karlei snorted, as she looked around; taking in her surroundings, remembering she'd been at Kelsey's apartment before she showed up here, "Guess we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto."_

"_No, wait. I think I remember this place."_

_Karlei glanced around, her eyes squinting at the sun glaring down upon them. "This is that park across the street from our old house."_

_ "We used to come here and you'd climb the tree, or play in the grass while I read stories to you."_

_ "I miss you," the younger sister whispered, her arms folded across her chest, like she was holding herself together by sheer force of will. "You've been gone for so long."_

_ "Two weeks?"_

_ "Longer. Try two months. Everyone is losing hope. Mom and Dad are scared, they think we'll never find you."_

_ "What do you mean?"_

_ "Everyone's telling them that they should give up. I'm starting to wonder if they already have." She told her sister bitterly._

_ "I miss you too," she said, after a long pause, scared of where the conversation was leading. "I wish I could come home."_

_ "Then why don't you? Where are you? Come home, please."_

_ Kelsey sighed and looked away. When she opened her mouth to say something after a long bout of silence, a rush of air hit her, and she froze._

You do not have much time. You must say your goodbye, and know you are lucky to have been granted this small gift_, Castiel's voice drifted through her mind, and she was about to ask her sister if she'd heard it, but the younger girl was staring at Kelsey, waiting for an answer._

_ "I will, but I don't know how. As soon as I can." She threw her arms around her sister, pulling her in for a hug as she felt their surroundings starting to blur. "I love you. Know that. Goodbye, Kar."_

_ Karlei's eyes were brimming with tears again as they let go of each other, Kelsey holding tightly onto her hand. "I know, love you too." As soon as their hands fell back to their sides, no longer in physical contact, Karlei began to fade away with the rest of the park until there was nothing._

_ And Kelsey fell into oblivion_.

* * *

><p>Kelsey folded her arms and walked down the sidewalk, thinking about everything. It hadn't taken her long to figure out it had been a dream. She'd woken up in a fright, and she had to splash water on her face just to get herself to calm down, her heartbeat back to its normal pace.<p>

The optimistic side of her kept thinking, _at least you got to say goodbye_. But, her pessimistic side kept thinking, _how do you know it was real?_

She had no idea if it was real or not, but maybe she needed it anyway. A way to apologize and say goodbye to her sister, even if it was only real to her.

Kelsey sighed and stopped when she saw a patch of daisies. She picked one and kept walking, twirling the white flower with her fingers. She reached an arching bridge and stopped in the middle of it, leaning on the railing as she stared down into the water.

She let her hands hang over the railing as she continued twirling the flower in her hands, watching the reflection in the water turn this way and that.

She smiled when she thought of the game her and her sister used to play when they were young and slowly picked off the petals one by one. She let the petals fall into the water, watching them float on the surface. Her thoughts drifted back to the park on top of the hill under the shade of the oak tree. She would sit there and read stories to her sister as she would climb the branches or pick at the grass.

Kelsey threw the defiled flower into the water and stared mesmerized as it floated downstream, carried away by the dark water, wishing she could be back at that park with her sister, reading stories.

Kelsey looked up at the position of the moon and frowned. If she remembered correctly, the moon being at its zenith, or at the highest point in the sky, would mean it was just past midnight.

She sighed and knew she should get back soon, before Sam and Dean decided to come looking for her, but she just couldn't make herself move.

"Have you made amends with your sister?"

Kelsey jumped and turned towards the voice. She couldn't help but clutch her hand to her hammering heart and let out a shaky breath as she stared at the angel.

"Hey Castiel," she muttered and gave him a pointed look. "Yeah, I did. I really appreciate what you did; I mean thank you for letting me make things right with her, but . . ."

Castiel nodded as she reassumed her position of leaning over the railing. He just stood beside her, watching her. "But, you already wish to see her again."

Kelsey let out the breath she'd been holding and nodded. "Yeah, exactly. I'm not even so sure I'm supposed to be here, and I get tossed into a piece of my past, expected to throw it all away?"

"She is safe in your world," Castiel stared out at the star-filled sky. "But you were brought here for an important purpose. It was written. You will change the Winchester's lives."

Kelsey's brows raised and looked at him dubiously, "Really? You're not kidding, are you?"

"I am not kidding." Castiel said, his eyes narrowing. He tilted his head to the side. "You do not believe me?"

She looked up at him, "How can I possibly believe that? How am I supposed to change their lives?"

Castiel placed his hand on her shoulder. "Love is a powerful thing, Kelsey. Never forget that."

She felt his hand leave her shoulder and turned to ask him what the hell he meant, but he was already gone.

"Thanks for really clearing that one up," she muttered sarcastically and went back to staring out at the water. She frowned and rubbed her eyes, before standing up straighter and started walking back towards the motel.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: the song used in this chapter is "Touch Too Much" by AC/DC.**


	13. Back To The Start

Chapter 13

Back To the Start

She let herself inside the motel room she was sharing with Sam and Dean, squinting in the dark of the unfamiliar space. She was tired, and knew as soon as her head would hit the couch cushions, she'd be out like a light. It didn't really bother her that she had to sleep on the couch—they'd flipped a coin for the beds and she'd lost—since she was the smallest out of the group, it made sense.

Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw that Dean was right where she left him—face down on the bed closest to the door, deeply sleeping, with his hand holding onto the cool metal of his Bowie knife underneath his pillow. But, something, or some_one_, was missing.

Or, more specifically speaking, Sam.

His bed was empty, but all his stuff was still there, scattered throughout the room. Laptop sitting open on the dinette table, papers from his research for the next hunt strewn across its surface, his duffel bag lying at the end of his bed—they were all signs that pointed to him returning, relatively soon. She frowned as she took this all in, worrying to where he'd gone. She couldn't say for sure if this was normal behavior for Sam or not. They didn't always show everything on TV, and she wanted to believe that he was just out for a walk, or something to drink, but her gut was telling her otherwise. Weren't you always supposed to follow your gut instinct?

To say she was a bit suspicious would be an incredibly huge understatement, but before she could make a conscious decision on what to do, a familiar figure appeared and sat on the edge of his bed.

"Castiel? What—"

He held up a hand to silence her, and she promptly closed her mouth, if only out of curiosity. He turned towards Dean, watching him shift in his sleep. Were they supposed to watch Dean sleep?

_Is that even legal?_ She thought doubtfully as she shifted uncomfortably on her feet, about to ask if angels did this sort of thing often with their charges, when Dean gave a soft yelp, his eyes still tightly closed. Glancing from Castiel to Dean, Kelsey could see his eyes moving rapidly behind his closed lids, as if he were having a nightmare—or reliving his time in Hell, she realized with horror. She stepped forward, only hesitating slightly to wake him, but his eyes shot open in the next second with a sharp inhale of air.

He sent a confused glare towards Castiel, noticing him sitting on his bed, and Kelsey shrugged helplessly when his eyes landed on her.

Castiel didn't seem fazed by the confused tension in the air; he simply got to the point. "Hello, Dean. What were you dreaming about?" Kelsey, silently recalling her dream from earlier, wondered why the angels were suddenly so interested in their dreams.

"What, do you get your freak on by watching other people sleep?" Dean asked, his voice thick with sleep. His eyes glanced to Kelsey, questioningly, but she inclined her head towards Castiel. As if saying, "Ask him, I had nothing to do with this."

"Listen to me." Castiel interjected seriously, his voice suddenly deeper, more commanding—the tone of his voice frightened her. His face had been impassive, but now his eyes were narrowed in focus, and his mouth set in a thin line. "You have to stop it," he warned, cryptically.

"Stop what?" Dean asked, almost taken aback at the tone the angel used, but his expression was becoming grave as the urgency in Castiel's tone was sinking in.

Castiel started to raise two fingers, and it reminded Kelsey of the previous time he'd done that—when he knocked Bobby out, by touching two fingers to his forehead. She somehow doubted that was his intention, but she stepped forward to intervene anyhow. She wasn't sure what she expected to do, but she had not expected Castiel's other hand to reach up, with two fingers, and place them to her forehead at the exact same time as he did to Dean's, like he'd predicted her reaction.

Everything went black, and she almost thought she was asleep. She felt a moment of absolute weightlessness, and then it was as if she were being tied down by heavy weights. She was falling; that was the only way to describe it. She felt the accompanied jerk her body gave in reaction to a sudden landing in her dream.

Then there was total darkness.

"Hey, sleeping beauty. C'mon, wake up." Her eyes cracked open as sounds around her slowly faded in and then her lids slammed shut upon the sun's assault on her sensitive eyes. There was a heavy, impatient sigh from the person who had a faintly familiar voice. A distinctly _male_ voice.

Kelsey tried again to open her eyes, and this time she was able to keep them open long enough to match the voice with the face hovering above her, a little too close. "You're making me claustrophobic." She muttered weakly.

As if just figuring out how close he was, he instantly backed off, and Kelsey was grateful, even if he looked a little sheepish. She dutifully ignored him clearing his throat, and the slightly pink flush that was crawling up his neck. She sat up slowly, only now realizing her head had been in his lap, and they were on a bench on the sidewalk, somewhere unknown. "Um," she began, looking around with wide eyes. "Where exactly are we?"

"No idea," he grunted, digging his phone out of his pocket and tried making a call. Kelsey carefully pulled the worn leather jacket off her—somewhere in the back of her mind, she was melting into a puddle of goo, because he'd laid his jacket over her—and handed it to him, frowning when he made a displeased sound. "Perfect," he muttered sarcastically.

"What?" she asked him warily, unsure whether she wanted to know the answer or not.

"No signal." He shook the phone at her, to make his point and then shoved it back into his pocket.

"So, what do we do?"

Dean ignored her and leaned back on the bench, his hand scrubbing his eyes tiredly. Instead of waiting for a direction from him, Kelsey's eyes landed on a diner right across the street, and she stood up, moving in that direction. A hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her, and turned her back around. "Haven't we already learned our lesson about crossing the street without looking both ways?" Dean asked roughly, without much humor.

She shrugged off his hand and rolled her eyes. She pointed at the diner, her brows rising. "I was thinking the people in there know where we are. And that's a start, right?"

He pursed his lips, as if in thought, and eventually nodded curtly. "Fine. But, you let me do the talking."

Kelsey shrugged indifferently, and they crossed the street together, Dean's hand on her lower back, ushering her along. She didn't object, even though she wanted to, her inner feminist protesting. However, she actually kind of liked it, though she'd never admit it aloud to him. The fact that he cared enough to make sure she got across the street safely. Her skin felt tingly and warm where his palm rested low on her back. She remembered them in the back of the Impala, and—she cut off her thoughts on that subject quickly, and looked around as they entered _Jay Bird's Diner_.

Dean led her to the counter and sat them down next to a man with dark hair and eyes. He only looked up when Dean sat Kelsey one seat over, and sat down next to the man himself. She gave Dean a mild glare for manhandling her, but otherwise didn't say a word. The man gave a polite smile to them both and went back to reading his newspaper.

"Hey," Dean began, clearing his throat a little; his voice still gravelly from sleep, "Where the hell am I?"

The man kept reading his newspaper, his eyes never looking up. "Jay Bird's Diner."

"Yeah," Dean said, his tone bordering on sarcasm, "Thanks . . . I meant city and state."

This time the man did look up, and gave Dean a weird look, "Lawrence, Kansas."

"Lawrence . . ." Dean spoke almost unbelievingly, his voice trailing off. Kelsey's brows shot up as she realized the significance of their location. What were they doing in Sam and Dean's hometown?

"Hey," the man looked between Kelsey and Dean, almost looking concerned for their well-being, "You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah," Dean waved off the concern, with a strained smile and easy shrug, "tough night."

The man looked at Kelsey briefly and then nodded at someone across the counter, gaining the attention of the server. "Hey, two coffee's here, Reg."

"Sure, comin' right up." Dean was busy talking to the young man about where he could get a signal on his phone as Reg was making their coffees. Kelsey's eyes were widening as she recognized the wrongness of their surroundings. Bell-bottoms, wide-collared shirts, mutton chops, Farrah Fawcett hair . . .

_Oh shit._

Looking around, everyone was dressed in clothing from circa 1970. Slowly, _inconspicuously_, she elbowed Dean to get his attention, but he snapped at her.

"Ow! What?"

"Take a look around, Dean. Notice anything?"

"What are you talkin' about?" he asked, and then saw his coffee being placed down in front of him. He thanked Reg, the server, and then eyed the man's clothing with distaste. "Nice threads. You know Sonny and Cher broke up, right?"

"I don't think they have, yet." Kelsey muttered, incredulously, while the young man sitting next to Dean asked, "Sonny and Cher broke up?"

If that didn't confirm it, she didn't know what would. They had to be in the '70s. _What the hell?_ She saw Dean looking around in confusion and suspicion, but she was focused on the man who walked through the door of the diner.

"Hey Winchester!"

Both Dean and the young man next to him turned around at the shout, and the man approached the counter where she, Dean, and the young man next to him were sitting, but he wasn't speaking to Dean.

"Son of a bitch." The man exclaimed happily, "How you doing Corporal?" The man glanced at her with a friendly grin and a wink, "'Scuse my language, little lady."

Kelsey smiled and shrugged it off as he refocused on the young man that Dean had been talking to at the counter.

"Hey Mr. D," he greeted, flashing him a grin.

"I heard you were back."

"Yeah, a little while now."

"Good to have you home, John. Damn good." Kelsey's eyes widened as she realized who he was. Winchester. _John Winchester_. The young man sitting next to Dean was none other than Sam and Dean's very own father. _Holy shit!_

"Dad . . ." Dean murmured and his eyes were round, almost as if in awe. Luckily, no one, but Kelsey, seemed to have heard him. It'd be just a tad difficult to explain that to the future father of the infamous demon-hunting brothers.

"Well," the man that John had referred to as _Mr. D_, said, "Tell your old man hello for me."

"You got it, Mr. D." As the man took his seat in a booth at the back of the diner, John turned to see Dean staring openly. "Do we know each other?" Kelsey caught the uncomfortable expression on his face as she quickly elbowed Dean in the side, to get his attention. He jumped slightly, wincing from her jab, but never took his eyes from his father's youthful face.

"I guess not." He muttered in response, still seemingly in shock.

John nodded slowly, and Kelsey smiled sheepishly at him. "It was nice meeting you . . ."

He offered up a hand, and a smile, "John Winchester, miss."

She shook his hand once, surprised at her courage. How was she even having coherent thoughts right now? "Well, it's nice meeting you John. I'm Kelsey, and this is my friend Dean."

He nodded as he stood, ready to leave. "You too." He replied politely, "Welcome to Lawrence." John saw Dean still staring blankly at him, and said, "Take it easy, pal," with a friendly pat on the shoulder before he left.

"So that was . . ."

"My dad," Dean confirmed with a curt nod, "Yeah." he released a heavy sigh, and Kelsey noticed how weary he actually looked. She wondered how many more twists and turns in the plot he could handle, before he completely snapped.

"So that means . . ." Reordering her thoughts, she reached over and plucked up the newspaper that John left behind and stared incredulously at the date on the paper. "Monday, April 30, 1973." She read aloud, and Dean quickly took the paper out of her hands, green orbs widening as he stared at the little black letters and numbers dubiously.

"Why would Castiel send us here?" Kelsey asked mostly to herself, but Dean answered anyway.

"I don't know," he looked up and caught his dad crossing the street. "But, I'm going to find out." He stood up quickly, and started walking out of the diner, after the young John Winchester. Kelsey got up from her stool, and had to practically sprint after Dean to keep up with his long strides.

It was going to be a long day.

**Please, don't kill me! I know it's kind of short, I'm sorry! And, so sorry for the extended wait on this update. I have no excuses for you guys, I was just lazy and lost some of my muse. I just hope I haven't lost any readers because of it. **

**Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter, and hopefully I'll be updating again a lot sooner. **

** Reviews are love! :3**


	14. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay, so I just want to apologize for uploading an author's note, because I know you're not supposed to do that.

There's just a lot of crazy stuff going on right now for me, and I'm trying to juggle everything, and find time to write up more chapters.

I'm just putting _I'll Look After You_, and _Stealing Hearts_, on hold for now. But I plan on coming back to them, don't worry. It sucks that I have to do this to you guys, but that's the only option I have right now.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me and I'll answer if I can.

Thanks for understanding,

MissSecretlySinful


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